 "Canada is set to join the United States and EU in imposing tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles (EVs). (Photo: AFP)")
Canda is set to join the United States and European Union (EU) in slapping tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles (EVs) metal imports, according to reports.
The West and China are in a showdown over the flooding of Western markets with cheap EVs, renewable energy products like solar panels, and metals. The United States and EU have alleged that China has artificially cheapened these goods by subsidies and overproduction which has put the Western suppliers and jobs at risk
The United States and EU have already slapped tariffs. The Joe Biden administration of the United States has gone several notches further and also sought to hit other areas of Chinese economy, such as the semiconductor sector.
Now, Canada is set to impose 100 per cent tariffs on Chinese EVs and 25 per cent steel and aluminium, according to Bloomberg.
The report comes a day after US National Security Advisor (NSA) Jake Sullivan urged Canada to join the sanctions against China.
“Canada will make its own determinations, but the U.S. does believe that a united front, a coordinated approach on these issues benefits all of us,” said Sullivan.
‘Canada facing unfair competition from China’
Canadian Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland, who has been most hawkish on China in terms of trade, had said in June that the Canadian automobile industry was “facing unfair competition from China’s intentional, state-directed policy of overcapacity that is undermining Canada’s EV sector’s ability to compete”.
Impact Shorts
More ShortsIn an interview with Bloomberg at the time, Freeland said: “Geopolitics and geoeconomics is back. That means that Western countries —and very much the US— is putting a premium on secure supply chains and is taking a different attitude towards Chinese overcapacity.”
Even as Canada is set to join the tariffs against Chinese EVs and metals, the Justin Trudeau-led government has no plan to join the United States in slapping tariffs on Chinese semiconductors and solar cells, according to The Toronto Star.