Kino and Mo want to end tariffs on electric cars in China to get Beijing to raise canola tariffs

Two Canadian prime ministers have urged the federal government to raise tariffs on Chinese-made electric vehicles in the hope that this will lead Beijing to remove its tariffs on Chinese-made electric vehicles. Canadian canola.

“Seize the opportunity presented by the recent statements of the Chinese ambassador to Canada,” Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew said in a letter to Premier Mark Carney.

“He pointed out China Canada is prepared to raise its tariffs on canola and Canadian pork if Canada removes the 100 per cent tariff on Chinese-made electric vehicles.

Kino was referring to remarks made by Ambassador Wang Di through an interpreter in an interview broadcast Sunday on CTV.

Canada has imposed a 100% tariff on Chinese electric cars since October 2024, a fee imposed in agreement with the United States, under the pretext that this step aims to protect the country’s automobile industry.

In August, China imposed a tariff of about 76 per cent on Canadian canola seed after an anti-dumping investigation into the country’s canola crop.

Both canola growers and Ottawa residents have rejected the dumping allegations, arguing that exporters followed rules-based trade.

In the wake of the tariffs, the premiers of the Prairies urged constructive discussions with China and the removal of tariffs on electric vehicles.

Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe, who has previously said removing tariffs on electric vehicles would not be a simple solution, traveled to China in September for meetings with officials in Beijing.

His office said in a statement last week that the two countries should continue to talk to each other.

On Sunday, Mo posted on X that Wang’s comments are a “clear indication” of how the federal government will “behave this week” during Foreign Minister Anita Anand’s visit to China.

“It is time for Ottawa to get this deal done on behalf of 200,000 Canadian workers,” he wrote.

Anand begins her trip to Asia on Monday in Delhi and is expected to report back on Tuesday.

Mo’s comments come after new data from Statistics Canada last week showed the province exported $96 million worth of goods to China in August, a 76 per cent decline compared to the same month last year.

About 60 percent of the province’s exports to China are agricultural and food products, and data shows that they have been declining since June.

Although Keino, Moe, and Alberta Premier Danielle Smith have all called for the removal, other federal and provincial politicians have taken an opposite stance.

Ontario Premier Doug Ford, in a letter to Carney last month, said the tariffs are “critical to protecting” jobs in the province.

“At a time when our auto sector is under tremendous financial pressure due to President Trump’s tariffs, Canada’s tariffs on Chinese-made electric vehicles are critical to protecting more than 157,000 direct jobs in Ontario and hundreds of thousands of indirect jobs across the country,” Ford wrote in the letter.

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International trade lawyer Mark Warner told Global News that Ford’s stance is not surprising since Canada has not opened its markets to Chinese electric vehicles.

“We are asking farmers to take this product seriously for something that is not yet produced in Canada,” Warner said.

He added that disagreements between politicians over how to deal with the trade dispute could be beneficial to Beijing.

“China clearly knows which sectors to pressure to get the rise of Canadian politicians,” he said.

Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre also stuck firm on tariffs.

“China wants these electric cars to be roaming surveillance operations on our streets,” Poilievre said.

Despite calls from Prairie premiers, the federal government has given no indication that it might abandon its duties first.

Finance Minister François-Philippe Champagne’s office told The Canadian Press in mid-September that a review of the decision to impose electric vehicle tariffs was underway, but did not say when the review had begun or when it would end.

“We have begun more intense engagement with China regarding, first and foremost, canola oil and other agricultural products,” Carney said in early September. “It is too early to reach any conclusions.”

Carney met with his counterpart Li Qiang while at the United Nations last month, and a statement from the Prime Minister’s Office said the two leaders discussed canola and electric cars.

—With files from Gillian Piper of Global News and The Canadian Press

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