German carmakers will “fight” any potential tariff war between Brussels and Beijing, according to the chief financial officer of Porsche, one of the handful of European brands that does not manufacture cars in China.Tensions have been rising between Beijing and Brussels after the EU last month announced an anti-subsidy probe into Chinese electric vehicles, warning that Europe was about to be “flooded” by artificially cheap cars.

“As a strong German automotive community, we want to fight and will fight against [any new tariffs],” said Porsche’s chief financial officer Lutz Meschke on Tuesday. He said the EU’s move was “not very helpful” for the bloc overall, but especially not for Germany, which relies heavily on exports to China.

German carmakers make a large chunk of sales and profits in the country, with Chinese sales accounting for a third of BMW’s total car sales last year, and almost 40 per cent for Mercedes-Benz and Volkswagen.