China hits back at Canada with canola tariffs, chemicals probe

By Kyle Duggan | 09/04/2024 12:48 PM EDT

The trade tit-for-tat follows Ottawa’s Chinese electric vehicle tariffs. Canola is one of Canada’s top exports to China.

Bottles of Canola Harvest brand canola oil, manufactured by Canadian agribusiness firm Richardson International, are seen on the shelf of a grocery store in Beijing on March 6, 2019. Mark Schiefelbein/AP

OTTAWA, Ontario — China will launch an anti-dumping investigation into canola imports from Canada, hitting a key trade pain point in response to Ottawa’s decision to match the Biden administration’s stiff tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles.

China also plans to start an anti-dumping probe into Canadian chemical products, according to its commerce ministry.

Canada announced last week that it will follow the United States by responding to Chinese overcapacity with a 100 percent tariff on Chinese EV imports and a 25 percent tariff on Chinese steel and aluminum imports.

China has said it will fight that at the World Trade Organization using the dispute settlement process.

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