B.C. seafood producers are bracing for impacts as China begins a 25 per cent tariff on Canadian seafood products starting on Thursday.
The B.C. Seafood Alliance says the move could devastate the multi-million-dollar geoduck clam export industry, which is built almost exclusively on Chinese markets.
B.C.’s biggest geoduck competitor is the U.S., which is not subject to these new tariffs.
China spends an average of $300 million a year on B.C. seafood.
These tariffs come after Canada applied a surtax of 100 per cent on all Chinese-made electric vehicles and 25 per cent on steel and aluminum.
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“We don’t know when this is going to end, as I say people at the moment are simply tied up hoping that something will shift,” Christina Burridge, executive director of the B.C. Seafood Alliance, told Global News.
“I think the news this morning that China has executed four Canadian citizens doesn’t help the matter so I suspect we’re really looking at what happens when there is a new government.”
Burridge said the organization is hoping new Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney will take the opportunity of a federal election to reset the situation.
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