The world and its economy are currently going through, what we could perhaps politely call, “significant developments”. A major global economic player seems to have decided to march to a rather different tune than the rest of the world.
Is there an impact for us? With regards to our “products”, bicycles and eBikes, probably not a great deal. The European Commission is consulting with stakeholders on a list of possible products that could have tariffs applied to, and eBikes are on that possible list. But the EU does not import a great deal of eBikes from the US, and the EU does not export a great deal to the US (if it were bicycle parts then it may be a different story).
However a worrying prospect for us concerns the impact of trade policy on other vehicles, those that we share the road with. Tariffs and “regulatory equivalence”
This trade war for the US is about attempting to bring back a manufacturing base into their borders, and to extract as many “deals” as possible for current home grown industries, including the automobile industry.
If the US were to cut a deal with the EU on reducing or even scrapping tariffs on US manufactured vehicles entering the EU what impact would that have on the type of vehicle entering the EU?
Even if tariffs were abolished, the US would not suddenly flood into the EU, mass-produced vehicles could not get through the EU’s stricter vehicle requirements. But, the next stage after a reduction […]
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