Canadian canola has become China’s latest target just one week after Ottawa announced a tariff on Chinese electric vehicles, steel, and aluminum.
Canada says that the tariffs were put in place because of China’s inability to follow trade rules.
According to Francois Phillipe-Champagne, the Canadian Minister for Science and Industry, “We believe in free trade, but, on the other hand, you have a country like China— if you’re not going to be abiding by the rules of trade, we will have to make sure we have tariffs in place. So, you will have to respect the rules. If you don’t over-capacity and you over-subsidize the industry, and a number of things that are not in line with trading practices then, obviously you have to react.”
Some of those concerns include China’s lack of labor and environmental standards.
Now, Canada’s canola industry is at risk. More than half of all Canadian canola typically makes its way to China, making China’s latest move a major threat.
“We have many clients all around the world; however, you’ve got a couple of big customers. Thankfully, we’ve also got the United States, but China is right up there and China’s still going to need canola. They’ll just be getting canola from other places,” Jennifer Doleman, Canadian canola grower, explains.
China says that it intends to launch a World Trade Organization dispute, making Canada just one of many countries with growing trade tensions with China.
