The European Commission said on Friday it was in the "engagement phase" with China to try and find a solution to the dispute which has led to the imposition of provisional tariffs on imports of Chinese electric vehicles. (See MNI EM: China Hopes For Deal With EU On EV Tariffs - Advisors)

"The lines of communication remain open," a Commission spokesperson said.

"We are not looking at imposing tariffs for the sake of imposing tariffs," he added.

"Our interest is in levelling the playing field and restoring fair competition. If that can be done by engagement so much the better. We are now in the engagement phase."

Earlier this week, the EU imposed a 21% weighted tariff on imports of China-made EVs following a months-long anti-subsidy investigation of the industry.