Hungary will continue to ensure unhindered cooperation between German car makers and Asian suppliers, Péter Szijjártó, the minister of foreign affairs and trade, said after talks with local automotive industry leaders in Berlin on Friday. According a statement from the foreign ministry, Szijjártó said the electromobility transition as well as the economic interests of Hungary hinged on that East-West cooperation. „It is clear — and Hungary is an outstanding example — that the technological transition can be successful at the corporate level as well as the level of national economy if international trade is free, if global economic cooperation is not obstructed, if nobody hinders East-West cooperation among businesses,” he added. Szijjártó said punitive tariffs on Chinese EV makers proposed by the European Commission would „do more harm than good” for the European economy. He added that Hungary would focus attention on ensuring that the EC allowed „normal East-West cooperation yielding mutual benefits” to be maintained instead of contributing to efforts to form economic blocs when it took the rotating presidency of the Council of the European Union in the second half of the year. Szijjártó met Andreas Rade, the managing director of the German Association of the Automotive Industry (VDA), and Thomas Schwarz, Audi’s head of government affairs.