The federal government is not considering dropping tariffs it imposed last year on Chinese electric vehicles (EVs), steel and aluminum, despite Beijing’s retaliation and U.S. President Donald Trump’s decision to launch a trade war with Canada, according to the industry minister.
Ottawa imposed a 100 per cent import tax on Chinese EVs and a 25 per cent import tariff on Chinese steel and aluminum last October. Beijing retaliated over the weekend by imposing nearly $4 billion in tariffs on Canadian agricultural products, including canola oil and pork.
"We’re going to stand strong,” said Francois-Philippe Champagne, minister of innovation, science and industry, in an interview with Vassy Kapelos on CTV News Channel’s Power Play. “We want to protect our industry. We want to protect our workers. We want to protect our communities.”
The federal government, following the lead of then-U.S. President Joe Biden’s administration, imposed a 100 per cent import tax on EVs produced in China in October of last year, accusing Beijing of “distorting global trade” by exporting EVs at “unfairly low prices.”
Ottawa also imposed a 25 per cent import tax on Chinese-made steel and aluminum last October, accusing China of “pervasive subsidization” of its steel and aluminum industry.
In the wake of Trump’s decision to launch a trade war with Canada and China’s decision to impose new tariffs on Canadian products, B.C. Premier David Eby urged the federal government to rethink its tariff policy with all countries, including China.
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China produces 300% of the existing market of EVs as it stands, and the government is trying to further increase production. The manufacturers have been found to dump finished EVs into fields by the hundreds to claim the government benefits.
Their actions are dumping in the literal sense, and is illegal when it comes to international trade, so there is no reason to withdraw such tariffs until they stop overproducing at the minimum.
Not to mention that Chinese EVs spontaneously combust for the most bizarre reasons and have caused countless problems, like the e-bike that spontaneously combusted in Toronto’s subway due to it “not rated for cold weather,” or the container ship that caught fire because of a Chinese EV started a runaway reaction inside of a container, or the countless videos of Chinese EVs catching fire while parked in China itself.