The UK “will have to follow” the European Union by imposing additional tariffs on Chinese EV makers, industry executives and watchers have said. However the UK could also exploit the split by encouraging more inward Chinese investment.

On Wednesday the European Commission announced that Chinese-built electric vehicles exported to the EU are to be hit with additional duty rates as high as 38.1% in reaction to investigations concluding that EVs in China benefit from “unfair subsidisation”.

“The UK is going to have to follow,” one senior automotive executive told Autocar.