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Ontario Premier Doug Ford is urging Ottawa to maintain its 100 percent tariffs on Chinese-made electric vehicles (EVs), saying the automotive industry, already impacted by U.S. tariffs, needs protection from what he calls China’s “pervasive” non-market practices.
Ford sent a
letter to Prime Minister Mark Carney on Sept. 17, saying the tariffs on Chinese EVs have been “critical” to protecting hundreds of thousands of jobs linked to the industry by countering the regime-backed “unfair advantages” of Chinese producers.
Ford’s comments come after federal Agriculture Minister Heath MacDonald said last week that lifting the EV tariffs is “certainly something that we’re looking at,” as prominent voices like Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe have suggested the measure as a way to ease trade tensions with Beijing.
“As you know, China’s pervasive use of non-market policies and practices, including heavy subsidization and low environmental and labour standards, gives its industry unfair advantages over Canadian automotive manufacturers,” Ford wrote.
“Maintaining Canada’s 100 per cent tariff on Chinese-made EVs is essential to levelling the playing field, giving Canada’s EV sector and EV battery supply chains the ability to lead the North American EV sector and compete in the global EV market.”
Canada last year
imposed 100 percent tariffs on Chinese-made EVs and 25 percent tariffs on aluminum and steel products,
citing “unfair” competition from Chinese producers who Ottawa says “benefit from China’s intentional, state-directed policy of overcapacity and oversupply.” The move aligned Canada with the United States, which had imposed similar duties months earlier.
Ford also said in his Sept. 17 letter that keeping the EV tariffs on China is “critical” to securing a trade deal with the United States, and that doing otherwise would “contradict and undermine months of engagement with U.S. officials and lawmakers about the need to protect and enhance our highly integrated cross-border automotive supply chains.”
Since President Donald Trump’s first term in office, the United States has criticized and taken measures against China’s “unfair trade practices,” which it says
include dumping, forced technology transfer, overcapacity, and industrial subsidies.
Ford noted that Mexico recently
increased its tariffs on Chinese vehicles from 20 percent to 50 percent, and said that if Canada lifts its tariffs, the move would risk “isolating” its automotive sector within North America.
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Ford has previously
warned about China using Mexico as a “
backdoor” to access the Canadian and U.S. market.
Saskatchewan Premier Moe previously said he would like EV tariffs removed, noting they are a contributing factor to China’s decision to target Canadian canola—one of his province’s main exports. In the wake of China’s latest tariffs, he
said Canada cannot “sacrifice” the canola industry to defend its “fledging” EV industry.
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However, he recently
softened his stance, saying on Sept. 16 that removing the EV tariffs is “not as simple as that” but will require balancing trade relations with the United States and China.
Moe
visited China earlier this month as part of a trade delegation aimed at addressing the ongoing canola dispute. He was accompanied by the prime minister’s parliamentary secretary Kody Blois. Ottawa said the delegation had “constructive discussions” with Chinese officials and stakeholders.
Trade tensions between Ottawa and Beijing have intensified in recent months amid mutual tariffs and what is widely seen as China’s retaliation.
As Canada was grappling with shifting U.S. tariffs earlier this year, China imposed tariffs on canola-related products and other agricultural items, saying they stemmed from an “anti-discrimination” investigation the regime had launched just weeks after Ottawa
announced its tariffs on Chinese EVs.
Ottawa has
rejected the investigation’s premise and its findings.
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Then, last month, China
imposed 75.8 percent tariffs on Canadian canola—on top of existing duties—shortly after Canada
levied additional tariffs on Chinese steel aimed at protecting the domestic industry from trade diversion. The regime said the latest tariffs resulted from an “anti-dumping” investigation it
launched last year, a few days after Ottawa announced its EV tariffs.
Ottawa has denied China’s allegations that Canadian producers engage in canola dumping,
saying that Canadian canola products “meet the highest standards, and our inspection systems are robust.” Dumping involves selling products to another country at a price below their normal value.
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Udumbara
