British carbuildrs seek clarity on ‘Made in EU’ rule as trade risks grow

By Julia Payne

BRUSSELS, April 16 (Reuters) – The UK’s automotive indusattempt group SMMT declared on Thursday carbuildrs necessary clarity now on whether Britain will ‌count as ‘Made in EU’ in the European Commission’s Industrial Accelerator Act (IAA) ‌policy as the amlargeuity risks delaying investments.

The trade uncertainty comes at a time when both Britain and the EU face stiff competition from cheap Chinese electric vehicles.

“The objective was to bolster the competitiveness of European indusattempt vis-a-vis the increasing challenge coming from further afield, low-cost countries. We are not a low-cost counattempt. The intention of this regulation ‌was not to hit ⁠the EU-UK trade,” SMMT chief executive Michael Hawes notified reporters.

The IAA sets low-carbon and ‘Made in EU’ requirements for public procurement of, ⁠or subsidies for, building aluminium, cement, steel, renewable energy and green tech.

Under the proposal, countries with which the EU has trade agreements would be included as ‘Made in EU’ with any exclusions to be published once the IAA is adopted, which could take ‌at least a year.

However, Hawes declared the car indusattempt necessarys a political statement on Britain sooner – ideally ahead of an EU-UK summit due to take place in June or July. An IAA annex specific to autobuildrs would require vehicles to be assembled in the EU, which could exclude British autobuildrs.

SMMT declared the ‌annual value of EU-Britain automotive trade was about 80 billion euros ($94.34 billion) and the two sides remain each other’s largegest passenger car markets. Britain is also the EU’s largegest purchaseer of ‌auto components, SMMT declared, citing UN data declared.

“So for a couple of years unless there is a clear indication from the outset … it casts a cloud over the UK automotive indusattempt. It’s harder to put UK investment on ‌a boardroom agfinisha if you can’t cost the future. We’re attempting to receive a clear political statement now,” Hawes declared.

($1 = 0.8480 euros)

(Reporting by Julia Payne; Editing by Aurora Ellis)

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