Rights Groups Urge Ottawa to Maintain Chinese EV Tariffs Amid Canola Dispute
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Human rights and civil society groups are urging Ottawa to maintain tariffs on Chinese-made electric vehicles (EVs), saying that allowing them into the Canadian market could pose national security risks.
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Pro-democracy group Saskatchewan Stands with Hong Kong issued a press release on Oct. 16, calling on the federal government to maintain its tariffs on Chinese EVs “in light of serious national security concerns.” The call comes after China’s ambassador to Canada last weekend suggested that dropping the tariffs could prompt Beijing to lift its levies on Canadian canola–a proposal Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe and Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew have urged Ottawa to consider.
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The advocacy group says Canada must not “yield to economic pressure or blackmail from Beijing,” and instead focus on diversifying its canola market to ensure “independence from authoritarian regimes.” China is Canada’s second-largest canola market after the United States, with exports to that country totalling nearly $5 billion last year. Canadian canola is primarily grown in the Prairie provinces.
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“We are deeply concerned that allowing such vehicles to enter Canada’s market would pose grave threats to our national security and the privacy of Canadian citizens,” reads the statement. “Accordingly, we urge the Government of Canada not to remove tariffs on Chinese-made EVs.
“We also call on provincial counterparts to refrain from echoing Beijing’s demands or suggesting that Canada compromise its sovereignty and security for the sake of restoring canola market access.”
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The Oct. 16 statement was co-signed by five other advocacy groups, including Canada-Hong Kong Link, Chinese Canadian Concern Group Against CCP’s Human Rights Violations, Formosan Association for Public Affairs-Canada, the Vancouver Society in Support of Democratic Movement, and the Vancouver Hong Kong Forum Society.
The statement notes that Chinese EVs have been described as “spy machines on wheels,” given their ability to collect sensitive data, such as location tracking, audio, and video footage. They say this poses a security threat, given that under China’s national intelligence law, all individuals and organizations in the country are legally obligated to hand over data to the state when required to assist with intelligence work.
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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.” Beijing has retaliated by imposing 100 percent tariffs on on certain Canadian agricultural products, such as soybeans and canola oil, as well as 75.8 percent duties on Canadian canola.
Political Leaders Weigh In
Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre has voiced similar concerns to those expressed by the rights groups, saying in August that Ottawa must keep its tariffs on Chinese EVs due to national security risks..
“We have to be careful because the Chinese government wants to have the ability to track and surveil our people–we know that. They have had police stations set up in our country... they’re extremely intelligent and strategic,” Poilievre said during an interview with The Elev8 Podcast, aired on Aug. 28.
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“Do we want on our streets, in 10 years from now, a million rolling surveillance vehicles that have cameras and chips and other devices that are easy to track and potentially remote-controlled?”
Ontario Premier Doug Ford has also urged Ottawa to keep the EV levies, but primarily for economic reasons. He wrote 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 automotive industry by countering the Beijing-backed “unfair advantages” of Chinese producers.
Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew, for his part, has urged Ottawa to weigh the immediate economic impact of its trade measures, noting that China’s canola tariffs have particularly affected the Prairie provinces.
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“Canada’s trade policy must balance long term industrial goals and national security with immediate economic realities as well as the national responsibility to grow every region of Canada’s economy,” Kinew wrote in an Oct. 11 letter to Carney, urging him to consider the Chinese ambassador’s proposal to drop the EV tariffs in exchange for canola relief.
“While protecting our automotive sector is important, the current approach has created a two-front trade war that disproportionately impacts Western Canada.”
Foreign Minister Anita Anand met with her Chinese counterpart Wang Yi on Oct. 17. Anand said the two discussed trade irritants, including Canadian canola and Chinese EVs, but there was no indication that any agreement was reached on the issue.
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