Ottawa matches U.S.on Chinese EV tariffs

Beijing slams move as act of trade protectionism, warns of retaliation

- TONDA MACCHARLES

The Trudeau government is now weighing whether to follow Washington by imposing additional punitive surtaxes on a broad range of other Chinese-made goods like semiconductors, solar cells, batteries and battery parts and critical minerals.

Canada is following the U.S. lead and slapping steep new tariffs on Chinese-made electric vehicles and heavily subsidized steel and aluminum imports, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Monday — a move that drew swift condemnation by Chinese officials.

As the Star first reported, Canada’s tariffs on Chinese EVs will match the U.S. level, which quadrupled in May, at 100 per cent in an attempt to protect domestic EV carmakers from a rising tide of cheap imports. Canada’s EV tariffs will take effect Oct. 1.

In addition, Ottawa will match the U.S. with a 25 per cent tariff on Chinese-made steel and aluminum imports, to take effect Oct. 15.

The Liberal government is now weighing whether to impose additional punitive surtaxes on a broad range of other Chinese-made goods like semiconductors, solar cells, batteries and battery parts and critical minerals, as Washington has.

Since many auto and battery makers use a lot of Chinese inputs, it’s a more complicated step to take without knowing the collateral damage that could be caused for domestic producers, and so the Trudeau government kicked off another intense 30-day consultation period.

The Chinese Embassy in Ottawa denounced Canada’s moves in a statement to Bloomberg, condemning them as an act of trade protectionism that disregards global free trade rules. It warned the tariffs “will under mine the normal economic and trade co-operation between China and Canada, harm the interests of Canadian consumers and enterprises, and be detrimental to Canada’s green transformation and global efforts to combat climate change.”