Canada is now facing tariffs from China.
China announced on Saturday it will place a 100 per cent tariff on Canadian canola meal, canola oil, and peas, and a 25 per cent tariff on seafood and pork on March 20.
This after the Chinese announced results of its anti-discriminatory investigation into Canada implementing tariffs last fall on its electric vehicles, steel and aluminium. China claimed the tariffs discriminate them in trade, as per its own Foreign Trade Law.
It’s on top of levies imposed by the United States on Canadian products, including energy and potash, and Canada responded with retaliatory 25 per cent tariffs on $30 billion worth of American goods.
China is a major customer of canola products, according to the Canola Council of Canada in a news release on its website. Total exports to China in 2024 “were valued at almost $5 billion and included 2 million metric tonnes of canola meal, valued at $921 million and 644 metric tonnes of canola oil, valued at $1.5 million.”
“New tariffs from China on Canadian canola oil and meal will have a devastating impact on canola farmers and the broader value chain at a time of increased trade and geopolitical uncertainty,” said Chris Davison, President & CEO of the Canola Council of Canada (CCC). “We urge the federal government to immediately engage with China, with a view to resolving this issue.”
“With this announcement Canadian canola farmers are facing an unprecedented situation of trade uncertainty from our two largest export markets only weeks before planting begins,” says Rick White, President & CEO of the Canadian Canola Growers Association (CCGA). “The impact of the federal government’s trade policy decisions is now playing out at the farmgate, making it imperative that government respond with a plan for financial compensation commensurate with the losses incurred.”
In a statement, Greg Cherewyk, the President of Pulse Canada, believes the tariffs from China “represent an invitation to negotiate, not a retaliation nor the start of the trade war.”
“Pulse Canada calls on the Canadian Government to immediately engage with China to bring about a swift resolution to these matters. It’s in the best interest of both nations to recognize the positive contributions of agriculture and food to our economic wellbeing.” added Cherewyk.
Terry Youzwa, the Chair of Pulse Canada, says China is one of the largest markets for yellow peas and is a market that “Canadian farmers and exporters have been serving since the mid 1990’s.”
He adds, “the Canadian industry values this long-standing and mutually beneficial partnership. We know Chinese customers prefer Canadian peas and want to continue to deal with Canadian suppliers.”
Canada “exported roughly 500,000 metric tonnes of yellow peas valued at over $306M” in 2024, according to Pulse Canada, with China surpassing India as a top destination for yellow peas in 2017 as India reduced imports. Pulse Canada is working with the federal government and industry partners to set up a meeting to resolve the issue before its impacts are felt.
Responding to a post about the impacts tariffs on Chinese EVs have on the agriculture industry, Premier Scott Moe said on “X” Saskatchewan’s canola industry “is being put in the line of fire due to tariffs on Chinese EV’s, which nobody wants; to protect North American EV’s which few can afford; impacting Saskatchewan canola sales which people need and are already paying for.”
