(Adds Commission comment on Tesla and background from paragraph

5)

BRUSSELS, Aug 20 (Reuters) - The European Commission cut

on Tuesday its proposed tariff on imports of Tesla cars

built in China, as it broadly maintained other planned punitive

duties it set in July on Chinese-made electric vehicles.

In the highest profile European Union probe of alleged

Chinese subsidies, the Commission issued draft definitive

findings of its anti-subsidy investigation, which has provoked

threats of retaliation from Beijing.

It set a new reduced rate of 9% for Tesla, lower than the

20.8% it had indicated in July.

Tesla had requested a recalculation of its rate to be based

on the specific subsidies the company had received, according to

the Commission.

The EU executive said on Tuesday it still believed Chinese

EV production had benefited from extensive subsidies and

proposed final duties of up to 36.3%. That is slightly lower

than the maximum provisional duty of 37.6% the Commission had

set in July for companies that did not cooperate with the EU's

anti-subsidy investigation.

Tesla was among the companies classed as cooperating with

the EU investigation.

The Commission said it conducted an investigation, including

sending a team to Tesla facilities in China, to verify what

subsidies the firm had received.

A Commission official said Brussels had concluded that Tesla

receives less subsidies from China, compared to the Chinese EV

producers Brussels had investigated.