Buick Envision: US rejects GM's tariff waiver request

The taxes are part of a broader set of tariffs on Chinese exports, worth $ 250 billion. The United States hopes that it will put pressure on Beijing to conclude a trade agreement.

In a report, GM (GM) stated that he would continue to sell Envision in the United States and "complied with all the trade rules".

The automaker had argued that it should be exempt from paying a fee on the Buick model as it does not make sense that the company manufactures the car in the United States.

In 2017, GM sold five times more Envisions in China than in America, according to the automaker.

"These modest sales in the United States would never support a manufacturing plant in the United States," the company said in its July 2018 petition.

GM had initially stated that it might be necessary to stop offering the Envision to the United States if the tariff was maintained.

"This would be a blow to the Buick brand, as well as to dealers and consumers who have trusted Buick vehicles for more than a century," he said in his petition.

The US Trade Representative told GM that it rejected the automaker's request because "it concerns a product of strategic importance or related to" Made in China 2025 "."

Made in China 2025 is an industrial program designed to reduce China's dependence on foreign technology through investments in domestic industries and research into chips, robotics and electric and autonomous vehicles. .

GM manufactures the Buick Envision in Shandong Province, in eastern China, as part of a joint venture with SAIC, a company owned by the Chinese state.