BUDAPEST, October 4. /TASS/. The European Union is waging the economic cold war by restraining its growth and reducing competitiveness, Prime Minister of Hungary Viktor Orban said on the air with the Kossuth radio station.

"What we are doing now, what is being done with us, what is the European Union is doing - this is the economic cold war," Orban said, commenting on prospects of introduction of standing duties of the EU on Chinese electric cars. The EU is to vote on them today.

"The economic cold war is very dangerous for Hungary because it hits us in the first instance, our export-oriented economy. We should struggle against it," the Hungarian prime minister said.

Budapest will not support EU’s initiative on compensation measures against electric vehicles imported from China, Foreign Minister of Hungary Peter Szijjarto said yesterday.

The European Commission (EC) announced temporary duties on Chinese cars from July 4 and released in September the proposal to set them permanently from November 4. The duty will be 17% for BYD cars, 19.3% for Geely, 36.3% for SAIC, 21.3% for those said to cooperate with European Commission’s probe and 36.3% for those not cooperation. At the same time, EC slashed the duty on US Tesla cars by almost two times to 9%.

China has already protested against this initiative of the EC in the WTO and sent a request for consultations with the European Union. The request formally initiates a trade dispute within the WTO framework. If no solution is found within sixty days, the dispute initiator may request arbitration in the WTO.