Jacob Öberg

UK and EU scramble to soften post-Brexit auto tariffs cliff edge The two sides are eyeing a technical workaround for the new duties, which take effect from January 2027.

🚨🚨Late to this but the story of #brexit car exports continues as Britain and the EU are working to soften the blow of a Brexit trade deal cliff-edge that threatens to raise the cost of cross-channel #electricvehicle exports by 10 %. 🧵
www.politico.eu/article/uk-e...

The EU should maintain the requirements for high EU content of EVs, for two reasons:
1. The need for a financial incentive to locate battery EV capacity in EU, and
2. Less imports from UK will mean less production of EVs in UK, and thus in time more market share for EU

We are entering the next stage of the strategic breal-up between Europe and the US:

The unilateral decision by the US to lift sanctions on Russian oil exports is very concerning, as it impacts European security.

Increasing economic pressure on Russia is decisive for it to accept a serious negotiation for a just and lasting peace.

Can someone please print this off, roll it tightly, and smack Daniel Hannan repeatedly with it every minute he spends in the House of Lords?

We should be honoured to host, teach and learn from these people not exclude them. I'm ashamed of our government.

Such a dismal tale about the UK govt: so obsessed w competing with far-right to keep out foreigners that it won’t let in the brightest & best from war-torn countries even when they’re hand-picked by the FCDO, lest they ask to stay. Soft power sacrificed, but how many Reform voters will it convert?

Many thanks Sam for sharing these great insights!

EU interest is maintaining market share in UK. Being squeezed in lots of export markets, UK share still significant. Competition from China growing …

A reminder that the UK as per all EU neighbours is in a permanent negotiation - and therefore needs permanent very strong institutions to manage this, which are not really in place.

As always, it would be interesting to hear also from the EU side, by far the main player here.

The UK's interest (and its industry) to access Europe's market doesn't need much explaining.

But what are the EU's legitimate interests?
This wold help explain what the most likely scenarios are.

Now the EU Court has ruled that all EU states need to have a functioning system for legally changing gender we need to be campaigning in the EU against any further softening of Brexit/integration of the UK until the UK ends its de facto prohibition on meaningful legal transition.

Here we go again - UK in a changing Europe Anand Menon argues that while the UK government speaks more freely about the economic impact of Brexit and its ambitions for closer ties to the EU, its red lines will limit what it is able to achieve.

Talking about the economic impact of Brexit is one thing. Doing something about is something else entirely. Me for @ukandeu.bsky.social ukandeu.ac.uk/here-we-go-a...

The grift that keeps on giving.

#brexit

via @glanktree.bsky.social

“There’ll be more clarity but, ultimately, people are not going to be compliant across all of their vehicle lines by Jan. 1, 2027/ ends

cathode active material,” the U.K.’s Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders set out in a report last year.

But this is all “tinkering” that won’t resolve the key issue of duties making EVs more expensive, the auto industry figure said. /14

oting that battery companies like Britishvolt have collapsed and other investments have been canceled.

To avoid tariffs on the trade in EVs between the EU & the UK, governments in both London & Brussels “need to work with industry to agree a reasonable definition of what constitutes an originating

Meanwhile, some automotive firms won’t be able to meet the requirements, they said, although this would depend on their market position & the supply chains of individual automakers.

“Everyone is aware that the battery supply chain hasn’t localized as fast as people hoped,” the senior auto industry

The discussions will lead to a lobbying “battle” between the chemicals and automotive sectors as each vies to have more or less Chinese manufacturing in the supply chain, the senior European business representative said. /12

be,” they said.

London and Brussels are holding technical conversations about at what point in the supply chain firms can mix the different elements that go into the battery to count towards local content, the person added.

High-purity metal oxide compounds enable the electrochemical storage & release of energy in lithium-ion batteries. “At the moment, there are negotiations between the UK & the EU around how you define that & what the maximum levels of non-originating material for different parts of the battery could

noting this could provide some leeway for firms without delaying the changes again. A technical group that deals with the rules of origin requirements in the TCA is discussing “the guidance for the definition of cathode active material,” said the senior automotive industry figure cited above.

A last-minute deal struck in Dec 2023 delayed the new rules by three years, but Brussels said at the time they would not be extended again.

A senior European business representative confirmed that the U.K. and EU were in talks to “clarify” the rules of origin terms for batteries,

with the aim to clarify the provisions of the TCA for our businesses on both sides of the Channel." The rules of the TCA will tighten significantly from 1/1/27 with 55 % of a vehicle’s value & 70 % of the battery pack & battery cell required to originate from the UK or EU to dodge the new tariffs.

said a senior automotive industry figure. Like others cited in this report, they were granted anonymity to discuss the private talks. An @ec.europa.eu spox said: "The EU and the U.K. are committed to providing guidance on the matter ... Discussion are ongoing between the

“I don't think it's in anyone's interest to put additional tariffs on trade between the UK in the EU and electrified vehicles when both markets are trying to encourage the sale of those vehicles.”

Yet the “tinkering” with the TCA is unlikely to avoid making EVs more expensive throughout Europe...

The hope is that a change in definitions could give manufacturers more leeway to meet trade rules — without reopening the hard terms of the Brexit #TCA.

“I know there's dialogue going on,” Mike Hawes, chief executive of Britain’s SMMT auto lobby, told reporters at a conference in London Thursday.

under Brussels’ nascent Made in Europe industrial policy.

In a bid to minimize the impact of the new tariffs rules, London and Brussels are now negotiating how to define the chemical makeup of EV batteries as part of the 2026 review of the Brexit deal, two senior industry figures told @politico.eu.

But carmakers on both sides of the channel are struggling to develop domestic battery production fast enough to meet demand for EVs, exposing them to tariffs when the new rules kick in.

The duties would deal a second blow to British carmakers who also face being locked out of valuable EU deals