Why Essex County farmers might be impacted by tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles

One economist believes the Chinese government will retaliate now that Canada has announced plans to impose an import tariff on EVs.

“They’ve done it before,” Carleton University economist Ian lee told CTV News Windsor Monday, citing prevent restrictions on imports of Canadian canola.

“That’s a big export sector of Canada to China. So if you want to hit them, hit them where it hurts and that’s agriculture,” Lee said.

Lee predicts Chinese importers will look to other countries to source their agricultural products.

“If I’m an importer in China I’ll go out-sourcing from the Australians or I’ll go and source from the Europeans,” said Lee. “We aren’t the only ones in the world making these particular products.”

On Monday, Justin Trudeau announced his government will impost 100 per cent tariffs on imports of Chinese made EVs and a 25 per cent tariff on imports of Chinese aluminum and steel.

“Actors like China have chosen to give themselves an unfair advantage in the global marketplace, compromising the security of critical industries and displacing dedicated Canadian auto and metal-workers,” he said at a news conference in Halifax.

“This is an exciting time for the industry, but we need time,” Brian Kingston, president of the Canadian Vehicle Manufacturers Association (CVMA) said Monday. “The industry needs time to build this EV supply chain as we transition to electrification.”

He said to not place tariffs on Chinese EVs would be “economic insanity.”

“We have miraculously won huge amounts of investment into this country, including in Windsor,” said Kingston. “And, so to then turn around and say, ‘You know what? We're going to allow highly subsidized competitors to come into the market,’ at this time that would not be smart economic policy. And, that would put all of our success at risk.”

Unifor is also in support of the move.

"Canada can and must protect auto and manufacturing jobs here in this country, which thousands of workers rely on for their livelihoods," said Unifor National President Lana Payne in a news release.

Payne noted, however, the government didn’t agree with Unifor’s request to impose tariffs on Chinese imports of battery-materials.

Unifor intends to lobby for those tariffs as well because according to the union, the federal government has opened a second public consultation period on the issue.