EU, China will look into setting minimum prices on electric vehicles, EU says

BERLIN (Reuters) -The European Union and China have agreed to look into setting minimum prices on Chinese-made electric vehicles instead of tariffs imposed by the EU last year, a European Commission spokesperson said on Thursday.

German newspaper Handelsblatt reported earlier on Thursday that negotiations had begun.

EU trade commissioner Maros Sefcovic spoke with China's commerce minister Wang Wentao in the last 24 hours and both sides agreed to look into setting minimum prices, the EU spokesperson said.

China's commerce ministry said in a statement that negotiations were set to start "immediately."

Sefcovic has previously said any minimum prices would need to be as effective and enforceable as the EU tariffs.

The EU increased tariffs on Chinese-built EVs to as much as 45.3% last October, but Brussels and Beijing have floated the idea of lifting the tariffs through possible commitments to minimum prices, known as price undertakings for imported cars.

The European Commission has said it is willing to continue negotiating an alternative to tariffs with China, which included tariffs of 17.0% for vehicles made by BYD, 18.8% for Geely and 35.3% for SAIC, on top of the EU's standard car import duty of 10%.

The discussions to potentially find a truce over the longstanding spat which has also roiled French cognac makers as Beijing took retaliatory trade action, comes as US President Donald Trump has embarked on a trade war with some of the U.S.' closest trading partners, including the EU and China.

Beijing slapped punitive tariffs on French cognac last year, hurting sales in the world's No. 2 economy and a major brandy market for global companies including Hennessey, Remy Cointreau and Pernod.

(Reporting by Philip Blenkinsop and Maria MartinezEditing by David Goodman and Susan Fenton)