China has announced major new tariffs on Canadian agricultural products in retaliation to tariffs imposed by Ottawa in October on Chinese electric vehicles, steel and aluminum.
Newsweek contacted Global Affairs Canada, the Canadian ministry that oversees international relations, and the Chinese Embassy in Canada for comment via email outside regular office hours.
Why It Matters
U.S. President Donald Trump has imposed sweeping tariffs on goods from Canada, Mexico and China, sparking fears of a global trade war.
Initially, his administration imposed a blanket 25 percent tariff on trade with Canada, excluding certain energy products, and 25 percent on Mexico. However, some of these were later suspended for one month. Trump also placed an additional 10 percent tariff on trade with China.
Some economists have argued that the proliferation of tariffs will trigger a surge in inflation and may push major economies into recession.
ANDREJ IVANOV/AFP/GETTY
What To Know
On Saturday, China’s Customs Tariff Commission of the State Council announced that it was imposing a 100 percent tariff on Canadian rapeseed oil, oil cakes and peas and a 25 percent tariff on pork and aquatic products.
The tariffs are scheduled to come into effect on March 20, according to the council.
Beijing linked the move to Canada imposing a 100 percent tariff on Chinese-made electric vehicles and a 25 percent tariff on Chinese steel and aluminum, both of which took effect in October.
Similar tariffs were imposed by the United States and the European Union on Chinese electric cars, with Western governments arguing that China had been giving its industry an unfair advantage.
According to The New York Times, citing commentary on Chinese state television, there is “little doubt” that China’s new tariffs are meant to warn Canada and Mexico not to impose higher tariffs of their own on Chinese products in response to American pressure.
China Central Television described the tariffs as “a powerful countermeasure to Canada’s wrong choice, and a strong warning to some countries that intend to impose additional tariffs on China in exchange for the United States not to impose additional tariffs on them,” the Times reported.
In 2019, China imposed biting sanctions on Canadian rapeseed oil after Canadian authorities, acting on an American warrant, detained Meng Wanzhou, a top executive at the Chinese tech company Huawei.
Wanzhou was later released as part of a deal that also freed two Canadian nationals who had been detained in China.
What People Are Saying
The Chinese Customs Tariff Commission of the State Council said in a statement: “Despite China’s repeated opposition and dissuasion, Canada has taken unilateral restrictive measures on electric vehicles, steel, aluminum and other products imported from China without investigation, undermining China-Canada economic and trade relations.”
It added that the new duties were imposed after an “anti-discrimination probe, which found out that Canada’s restrictive measures against some Chinese products have disrupted normal trade order and harmed the legitimate rights and interests of Chinese enterprises.”
The Chinese Ministry of Commerce said in a separate statement, according to The New York Times: “China urges Canada to immediately correct its wrong practices, lift restrictive measures and eliminate adverse effects.”
What Happens Next
It remains to be seen whether Trump’s full 25 percent tariffs on Canadian and Mexican goods will be reimposed in April after the one-month extension expires.
At the end of February, the U.S. president also pledged that 25 percent tariffs would be imposed on many products from the European Union “very soon.”