Energy Transition and International Trade Law in the Twenty-First Century: A Case Study of the China–EU Electric Vehicle Dispute

DOI

10.2991/978-2-38476-611-6_85How to use a DOI?

Keywords

WTO subsidy rules; green industrial policy; China–EU electric vehicle dispute; environmentally oriented subsidies; SCM Agreement reform

Abstract

This article examines the institutional challenges facing current WTO subsidy rules in the era of green industrial competition, using the 2024 China–EU electric vehicle countervailing dispute as its central case study. While the European Union’s imposition of definitive duties on Chinese battery electric vehicles reflects conventional trade-remedy logic, the dispute reveals a deeper structural deficiency: the SCM Agreement continues to treat trade distortion as the sole core criterion for subsidy legality while lacking an independent evaluative framework for environmental objectives. The article argues that subsidies with a clear environmental orientation, demonstrable environmental effects, and no linkage to export performance, local-content requirements, or import substitution should receive conditional special protection, even where they produce some trade-distorting effects. It proposes four operational criteria for identifying protected green subsidies and outlines China’s dual response path of active multilateral engagement and domestic policy optimization.

Copyright

© 2026 The Author(s)

Open Access

Open Access This chapter is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/), which permits any noncommercial use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license and indicate if changes were made.

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TY  - CONF
AU  - Xuwen Nie
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/09/07
TI  - Energy Transition and International Trade Law in the Twenty-First Century: A Case Study of the China–EU Electric Vehicle Dispute
BT  - Proceedings of the 2026 12th International Conference on Digital Humanities and Frontiers in Social Sciences (DHFSS 2026)
PB  - Atlantis Press
SP  - 771
EP  - 788
SN  - 2352-5398
UR  - https://doi.org/10.2991/978-2-38476-611-6_85
DO  - 10.2991/978-2-38476-611-6_85
ID  - Nie2026
ER  -