Canada is considering whether to impose import tariffs on Chinese-made electric vehicles (EVs) and will seek the public’s opinion about the idea, Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland said on Monday.
Freeland told reporters in Vaughan, Ontario, that Ottawa would open a 30-day consultation period on July 2 as to how Canada can respond. One option is a tariff on imports.
Freeland said the domestic auto sector faced unfair competition from what she called China’s “state-directed policy of overcapacity.”
“Chinese producers are quite intentionally generating a global oversupply that undermines EV producers around the world, including here in Canada,” she said.
The premier of Ontario, Canada’s most populous province and the main auto-making center , last week urged Ottawa to impose tariffs of at least 100% on Chinese-made electric vehicles to protect jobs.
U.S. President Joe Biden last month unveiled a bundle of steep tariff increases on an array of Chinese imports, including electric vehicles.
The European Commission, which oversees trade policy in the 27-nation, is planning to impose additional duties of up to 38.1% on Chinese producers such as BYD, Geely and SAIC, and on Chinese-built cars of Tesla and other western automakers.