Portsmouth-based LiuGong Machinery UK is urging the government to scrap plans to place import tariffs on Chinese-built zero-emission electric diggers.
Following an anti-dumping investigation last year, the Trade Remedies Authority (TRA) proposed tariffs ranging from 33.03% for Chinese producers that took part in the investigation to 83.5% for those that did not participate.
The TRA proposed a 59% tariff on LiuGong.
Ministers last week confirmed the TRA recommendations but, having conceded that LiuGong does not receive subsidies, reduced the tariff originally proposed.
Even so, LiuGong argues that there should be no tariffs on its range of electric vehicles which, it claims, have no UK-produced equivalent. 鈥淭he result will be that key public projects such as the Lower Thames Crossing and HS2, that are committed to lowering emissions, could be forced to pay more for electric vehicles 鈥� with the taxpayer footing the bill,鈥� the company said.
LiuGong said that since the TRA announced the tariffs last autumn, the firm and its customers have seen costs increased by more than a third, resulting in several voluntary redundancies. Even with the reduced tariff, LiuGong鈥檚 customers are having to pay an extra 20%.
LiuGong鈥檚 UK managing director Dean Thornewell said: 鈥淲e are a major inward investor and we support fair competition. We have welcomed the government鈥檚 commitments to growth and net zero but we are deeply concerned that with these tariff proposals they will undermine progress in achieving their ambition.
鈥淚n recent weeks ministers have made welcome announcements about jobs saved in UK factories thanks to trade deals and tariff reductions, but in Portsmouth jobs have already been lost as a result of ill-conceived and poorly targeted punitive tariffs. We urge the government to think again and remove the tariffs on green zero-emission machines before it鈥檚 too late.鈥�
Thornewell claimed that LiuGong鈥檚 electric machines could save the taxpayer money at the same time as contributing to cleaner air and net zero. 鈥淗itting them with a tariff makes no sense, especially as there isn鈥檛 a single UK competitor able to produce equivalent machines of the same weight,鈥� he said.
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