European Union officials say the duties are meant to protect the region’s automakers from what they say are unfair trade practices in China.

European Union countries have voted to impose duties on imports of electric vehicles from China, as talks continue between Brussels and Beijing to end the standoff before an end-of-October deadline

The European Union will press ahead with hefty tariffs on China-made electric vehicles, the EU executive said on Friday, even after the bloc's largest economy Germany rejected them, exposing a rift over its biggest trade row with Beijing in a decade.