China’s Ministry of Commerce asked Turkey to appeal to World Trade Organization (WTO) for consultations on Turkey’s additional measures on tariffs and import licenses in the automotive industry.

A ministry spokesman accused Turkey of violating WTO rules, saying Turkey has taken discriminatory measures against electric vehicles made in China, the Turkish edition of Bloomberg reported.

Describing Turkey’s decisions as a “typical measure of protectionism”, the Chinese Commerce Ministry spokesman called on Ankara to comply with its WTO obligations and immediately correct its “wrong practices”.

In September, Turkey expanded the prerequisites for the imports of electric vehicles from China to include plug-in hybrid cars and commercial vehicles. In June, additional duties were also imposed on internal combustion engine cars and hybrid vehicles imported from China.

The one billion dollar deal

Last July it was signed between of China’s largest electric vehicle manufacturer BYD and the Turkish Ministry of Industry and Trade a USD 1 billion agreement to establish a manufacturing facility in Turkey 150,000 electric cars the time and research and development center. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan was also present at the signing ceremony. Three days earlier, on July 5, a presidential decree was signed exempting Chinese cars produced in Turkey from the additional 40 percent customs duties imposed a month earlier on vehicles imported from China.

Disputes concerning tariffs and other trade policies between the two countries are settled through the WTO dispute settlement mechanism, the first stage of which is consultations.