Just weeks after Canada imposed greater tariffs on Chinese-made electric vehicles and on Chinese steel and aluminum, Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland said Ottawa is launching a 30-day consultation period to consider further trade restrictions on Beijing.
“As people saw at the cabinet retreat, the prime minister announced that we will be imposing tariffs on EVs from China and on steel and aluminum from China,” Freeland told reporters at the Liberal caucus retreat in Nanaimo, B.C., on Tuesday.
“I’m announcing a 30-day consultation on imports to Canada from China of batteries, battery parts, semiconductors, critical minerals and metals and solar products.”
Last month, the federal government raised tariffs on Chinese EVs to 100 per cent and on Chinese steel and aluminum to 25 per cent.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said this was being done to spur EV manufacturing in Canada.
The announcement brought Canada in line with recent U.S. trade policy changes but spurred China to open an anti-dumping probe into Canadian canola with roughly $1 billion worth of an impact on the domestic canola industry, a recent report says.
President Joe Biden announced in mid-May that he was hiking tariffs on Chinese EVs from 25 per cent to 100 per cent this year.
In June, Freeland told reporters that the federal government was concerned by “unfair” Chinese trade practices in the electric vehicle manufacturing sector. Freeland announced the start of a consultation process.
Freeland in her June announcement indicated what the restrictions might look like.
“The potential policy actions we are consulting on include a surtax on imports of Chinese EVs under Section 53 of the Customs Tariff Act, changes to which cars are eligible for the existing federal incentives for Zero Emissions Vehicle Program, and potentially broader investment restrictions in Canada,” Freeland said at the time.
Chinese-made EVs occupy a very small segment of the Canadian market, Johnson said, however, Chinese automaker BYD has been looking to expand to the North American market by way of a manufacturing facility in Mexico.
Two of the most popular EVs in Canada — Tesla Model Y and Tesla Model 3 — are both produced by the U.S. maker in its Chinese facility.