EV tariffs to damage economic cooperation with Canada: China

HALIFAX

China's embassy in Canada on Tuesday raised its "strong dissatisfaction" over Ottawa's plans to impose 100 percent tariffs on Chinese electric vehicle imports.

"It will damage trade and economic cooperation between China and Canada," an embassy spokesperson said in a statement on its website.

This move is typical trade protectionism and politically motivated decision, the spokesperson said.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Aug. 26 announced 100 percent tariffs on Chinese electric vehicle imports, matching U.S. measures seeking to fend off a flood of Chinese state-subsidized cars into North America.

Accusing China, one of the world's largest exporters of EVs of "not playing by the same rules as other countries" in areas such as environmental and labor standards, he also unveiled a 25 percent surtax on imports of steel and aluminum products from China.

The United States and the European Union have in recent months imposed tariffs on Chinese EVs of 100 percent and 38 percent, respectively.

Canada's auto manufacturing industry employs more than 125,000 people, and Ottawa has poured billions of dollars into supporting its transition to electric vehicles, and firming up a domestic electric battery supply chain.

At a news conference in Halifax,Trudeau said Chinese EV overproduction and hefty state subsidies for its auto sector "requires us to take action."

"Unless we want to get in a race to the bottom, we have to stand up, and that's what we're doing," he said. In a statement, the government called the tariffs a response to "this extraordinary threat."

Ottawa will also limit eligibility for EV incentives to those made in countries with which Canada has free trade deals, which would exclude China.