The extra taxes of up to 35 percent were announced last October after an EU probe found Chinese state subsidies were undercutting European automakers.

When China initially brought the case to the WTO late last year, it said it did not "agree with or accept" the tariffs.

"China will... take all necessary measures to firmly protect the legitimate rights and interests of Chinese companies," Beijing's commerce ministry said at the time.

China's representative told a closed-door meeting of the WTO's Dispute Settlement Body Friday that the country considered the EU measures inconsistent with international trade rules, according to a Geneva-based trade official.

The Chinese representative had stressed though that Beijing remained open to constructive dialogue and to finding a resolution to the dispute within WTO rules.

The EU meanwhile had stood strongly by its position that its measures were fully justified, according to the Geneva-based trade official.

While voicing regret that China had decided to push ahead with its demand for a WTO probe, the EU said it was confident that the organisation's experts would uphold its right to implement the measures in question.

Brussels blocked China's initial request for a WTO panel in the case last month, but a second request was granted Friday, the Geneva-based trade official said.

Under WTO regulations, parties in a dispute can block a first request for an arbitration panel, but if the parties make a second request, it is all but guaranteed to go through.

The dispute comes as China is seeking cooperation with the EU and others to jointly safeguard international trade amid Beijing's blistering tariff war with Washington.

While the rest of the world has been hit with a blanket 10 percent tariff by US President Donald Trump's administration, China faces levies of up to 145 percent on many products.