The meeting on Tuesday was also attended by European manufacturers as reported by the Global Times newspaper and China Central Television (CCTV) – both regarded as mouthpieces for Beijing.
The Global Times said Chinese manufacturers “called on the government to adopt firm countermeasures [and] suggested that positive consideration be given to raising the provisional tariff on gasoline cars with large-displacement engines”.
A separate account of the meeting from a social media account associated with CCTV said China’s carmakers called for “the most severe measures” in retaliation to the EU tariffs, according to Bloomberg.
The European Commission has proposed slapping extra duties of up to 38pc on China’s EV manufacturers after an investigation found they had benefited heavily from “unfair” state subsidies.
But in retaliation, Beijing is now said to be mulling tariffs of 25pc on imported European petrol cars that use engines of 2.5 litres or above.
That would potentially take in a host of popular sedans, sports cars and SUVs, including the Mercedes S-Class and GLE SUV, Porsche’s Cayenne and Panamera models and BMW’s X7.
Earlier this month, analysts at Bank of America warned that German carmakers were the most exposed to potential Chinese tariffs. Porsche, Mercedes and BMW collectively ship hundreds of thousands of vehicles to China annually.
Porsche imports all the cars it sells in China and relied on the country for 25pc of its sales in 2023. It is expected to ship 70,000 cars to China this year.
BMW and Mercedes depended on imports for around 15pc and 18pc of their sales in China last year.