China is launching an anti-dumping investigation into Canadian canola imports in response to tariffs recently imposed on imports of Chinese electric vehicles, steel, aluminum and other related components last week.
The Chinese commerce ministry said in a statement released on Tuesday that Canadian canola exports, also called rapeseed, had been steadily increasing in recent years, up 170% on a year-on-year basis resulting in a “continuous decline in prices.”
China claims this was evidence of potential dumping behaviour, causing imports to cost less compared to the price on the domestic market, hurting local producers.
“Affected by unfair competition from the Canadian side, China’s domestic rapeseed-related industries continue to lose money,” it said.
The statement made it clear that the investigation was in retaliation for Ottawa’s EV tariffs, calling them “discriminatory unilateral restrictive measures.”
The communist regime went on to say that it would be taking the case to the World Trade Organization.
The Chinese communist government accused Canada of “protectionism” for imposing the EV tariffs last week, after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said his government would be implementing a 100% tariff on Chinese EV imports and a 25% tariff on imported steel and aluminum.
The Chinese Commerce Ministry initially responded with a statement saying that the country is “strongly dissatisfied and firmly opposes this.”
China claims the tariffs will disrupt the stability of industrial and supply chains on a global scale and damage the country’s economic ties with Canada.
“Canada claims it supports free trade and the multilateral trading system based on (World Trade Organization) rules, but it blatantly violated WTO rules and announced it will take unilateral tariff measures by blindly following individual countries. It is typical trade protectionism,” reads the statement.
China called on the Trudeau government to “immediately correct its wrong practices,” stating that Beijing would take any necessary measures to secure the interests of Chinese companies.
The tariffs are slated to take effect this October.
China previously had an outright ban on Canadian canola imports, introduced in March 2019, in response to the arrest of Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou in Vancouver on a U.S. extradition warrant.
Canada sought help from the WTO over the canola ban, however, China lifted the ban before the organization got involved.
The Canola Council of Canada estimated that $2.35 billion in revenue was lost from March 2019 to August 2020 as a result of the ban by the country’s two largest exporters alone; Richardson Int. and Viterra.
Canada exported $5 billion in canola products to China to be used for food and biofuel last year.