Canada will follow in the footsteps of the United States and the European Union in imposing high import tariffs on electric vehicles made in China.
Canada’s government announced on Monday that Chinese EVs will be subject to a 100% import tariff moving forward. Additionally, there will be a 25% tariff placed on the import of steel and aluminum from China.
The decision to place high tariffs on China’s EVs is part of efforts to ensure fair trade on the global level.
The Chinese government is offering large subsidies for the EV sector, ensuring that electric car makers don’t need to be driven by profit and can sell their products at steep discounts. This is also the case with a number of other consumer goods.
“We’re doing it in alignment, in parallel, with other economies around the world that recognize that this is a challenge that we are all facing,” said Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau about the decision. “Unless we all want to get to a race to the bottom, we have to stand up.”
It is important that Canada doesn’t actually import a lot of EVs from China at the moment. The only Chinese-made EVs available in the country are Tesla electric cars manufactured in the Shanghai plant.