Those tariffs are "harmful and dangerous", Szijjarto said at a cabinet meeting in Geszt, in the south of the country. He noted that EU member states would take a vote on the proposal on Friday.

"The bureaucrats in Brussels are preparing for a ritual killing of Europe's future competitiveness tomorrow," he said.

He added that European automotive industry representatives had protested "tooth and nail" against the measure and pointed to the local industry's "extraordinarily close cooperation" with their Chinese counterparts.

He said Hungary was the "best example" of that cooperation, a place where partnerships between German car makers and Chinese suppliers were "close and in harmony".

He added that alliances with Chinese suppliers were a "fundamental element"of many big European car makers' strategies, while they also saw China as a "very important market", and many had manufacturing facilities there.

He warned that moving forward with the punitive tariffs would result in retaliatory measures, and said Chinese officials had already announced heightened scrutiny for some farm and food imports from the EU.

Szijjarto said he had spoken with executives of the biggest German automotive industry companies during the week and they had taken a "unanimous" stand against the proposed tariffs.

Adapting to electromobility 'crucial' for automotive industry

Adapting to the electric vehicle segment is "crucial" for the automotive industry, Mate Loga, the state secretary for economic strategy, said at a conference organised by the Joint Venture Association in Budapest.

Loga noted that the automotive industry, one of the pillars of the European economy, played an outsized role in Hungary's competitiveness.

He said Hungary aimed to be a "bridge" linking automotive industry know-how from the East and the West.

He added that the pandemic, the war in Ukraine and the energy crisis had exacerbated Europe's long-standing competitiveness problems.

Addressing the outlook for Hungary, Loga said inflation had fallen back into the central bank's tolerance band, but a growth rebound on external markets remained to be seen as the German economy was in the doldrums.

He pointed to the automotive industry's "key role" in boosting competitiveness in the EU and noted a ban on internal combustion engines in force from 2035. He said the increasing market share of EVs had slowed after years of growth and suggested decision-makers and car makers could provide a catalyst for further growth.

Hungary's government believes in international competition, instead of punitive tariffs, he said.

Loga said battery investments in Hungary, the result of partnerships between automotive industry companies in the East and the West, would cause battery manufacturing capacity in the country to quintuple by the end of the decade. He added that the country would become the fourth-largest battery maker in the world.

Fielding questions at a talk after his presentation, Loga said consumption, investments and exports could be the biggest engines of GDP growth in the coming year. He added that SMEs would be the focus of investments in the coming year to year-and-a-half.

He noted recently announced programmes for SMEs and said the government aimed to use capital investment, credit and grants to boost propensity to make investments.

Source: 
MTI - The Hungarian News Agency, founded in 1881.

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