Mark Gitenstein, the U.S. ambassador to the European Union, said China is deliberately distorting the market with a glut of cheap goods.
Gitenstein told CNBC’s Sylvia Amaro on Tuesday that China was “deliberately destroying economic sectors in Europe and the United States.”
The Chinese Embassy in London did not immediately respond to a request for comment when contacted by CNBC.
The ambassador’s comments came as the Biden administration announced on Tuesday it would raise tariffs on $18 billion worth of Chinese imports, including increasing tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles from 25% to 100%.
At the same time, there are growing concerns about the flood of cheap Chinese “green” goods – such as electric vehicles, batteries and solar panels – flooding international markets.
White House officials have warned Beijing to revise certain trade practices that they say weaken global supply chains. Meanwhile, last year the European Commission launched an investigation into Chinese electric vehicles and proposed launching its own “countervailing duty“In the future.
Gittenstein said both European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and European Council President Charles Michel had “extensively discussed the issue of overcapacity in the People’s Republic of China and how it is distorting our markets in the United States and its European market”.
“We’re going to protect our workers, we’re going to protect sectors of our economy that are basically under attack from the People’s Republic of China, particularly in green technology,” he added.
—CNBC’s Rebecca Picciotto contributed to this report.
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