Ursula von der Leyen, head of the European Commission (EC), has announced an investigation into Chinese subsidies for EVs as the EC worries about the ability of domestic producers to compete at an international scale.

On Wednesday, as von der Leyen delivered her annual speech on the state of the Union, the head of the EU’s executive branch expressed her concerns about Chinese cars overtaking European markets.

The EU’s investigation suggests that China’s global and European leadership in the EV industry is predominantly due to heavy and unfair subsidising from the Chinese government.

The block’s executive leader said: “So, I can announce today that the commission is launching an anti-subsidy investigation into electric vehicles coming from China.”

“As we do not accept this distortion from the inside in our market, we do not accept this from the outside”, she added.

Von der Leyen has made it clear she will do “whatever it takes” to support the European manufacturing industry and its competitiveness abroad, especially if the issue is related to the green energy transition.

As reported by Bloomberg, the EU went as far as recruiting Italy’s ex-prime minister Mario Draghi to prepare a “report on the future of European competitiveness” and work on the block’s new industrial competition strategy.