Amid Beijing's threats of retaliation, member states need to decide if they want to slap additional import tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles.

The European Commission is willing to continue negotiating with China a potential deal to avert tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles even after such tariffs are imposed, a senior EU official said on Monday.

Technical teams from China and the European Commission are actively negotiating a flexible price commitment to mitigate looming EV tariffs.

Mercedes-Benz Group AG and BMW AG are pressing Berlin to vote against imposing significantly higher European Union tariffs on Chinese-made electric vehicles as German carmakers push to avoid a spat with their most important market.

The European Commission plans to apply additional duties on imported electric vehicles made in China. In September it cut the proposed final tariffs on Tesla and slightly trimmed rates for others after taking into account submissions by the companies in its anti-subsidy investigation.

Additional tariffs harm globally active companies in this country and could provoke a trade dispute from which no one gains,” BMW chief executive officer Oliver Zipse said on Wednesday, as per the report.

Germany's influential auto-industry lobby urged the German government on Wednesday to oppose proposed punitive EU tariffs on imported Chinese electric vehicles. A vote on the tariffs by EU countries is scheduled for Friday,

Volkswagen on Wednesday urged Germany to vote against the introduction of European Union tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles, arguing that the tariffs do not improve the competitiveness of the auto industry.