Germany has blocked the sale of a Volkswagen subsidiary to China on national security grounds, delivering a fresh blow to the
already tenserelationship with its biggest trading partner. MAN Energy Solutions, part of the Volkswagen Group, said in June 2023 that it planned to sell its gas turbines business to Chinese state-owned CSIC Longjiang GH Gas Turbine Co (GHGT). But a German government review, initiated in September, raised concerns that China might use the gas turbines to power warships, according to Reuters.
The decision to block the deal comes just weeks after the European Union
hiked tariffs on electric vehicles from China, sparking a trade dispute with Beijing, which days later launched an investigation into
prices of EU pork.
During a press conference Wednesday, Germany’s economy minister Robert Habeck said that Berlin welcomes investments from foreign companies, but technologies relevant to “public security” must be protected from countries “which maybe do not always have a friendly relationship with us.”
