House Trade Committee to Study Potential Tariffs Against China

A motorist riding past new electric vehicles parked in a parking lot under a viaduct in Wuhan, central China's Hubei Province, on May 22, 2017. STR/AFP via Getty Images

The House of Commons trade committee has agreed to open new hearings to examine potential tariffs against China, weeks after Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre said his government would put levies on the country’s exports of electric vehicles (EVs), steel, and aluminum semiconductors.

Conservative MP Ryan Williams sponsored the motion at the committee meeting on Aug. 21.

“We face a contentious relationship with China,” he said, as first covered by Blacklock’s Reporter. “We have had allegations of foreign interference. We have had unfair trade practices.”

Williams told the committee the stakes could “really not be higher” for Canada’s economy, since the U.S. has levied tariffs on China but Canada has not followed suit. “Canadians right now are waiting three months to hear whether we will mirror the tariffs put on those industries,” he said.

The United States censured Chinese exporters for unfair trade practices on May 14, 2024, imposing a 25 percent tariff on China-made steel, aluminum, critical minerals and electric vehicle batteries, 50 percent on semiconductors and solar cells, and 100 percent on Chinese EVs.

Williams’s motion calls for the committee to study the impact tariffs against China would have on Canadian industries, and how the use of trade remedies could protect against Chinese EVs. The committee will also summon Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland, Trade Minister Mary Ng, Industry Minister François-Philippe Champagne, and Foreign Minister Mélanie Joly to testify.

Liberal MP Terry Sheehan said the government is “fully supportive of the auto industry” and believes that “tariffs work,” while Liberal MP Judy Sgro said “nobody is objecting” to studying the issue.

Back in June, the federal government announced it would be conducting a 30-day public consultation to gather feedback on imposing tariffs on Chinese EVs. Ottawa has accused Beijing of intentionally flooding the global market with EVs to undermine Western competitors.

Poilievre said earlier this month that if he is elected prime minister he would put a 100 percent tariff on Chinese EVs, a 50 percent tariff on semiconductors and solar cells, and a 25 percent tariff on steel and aluminum products, graphite, EV batteries, battery parts, permanent magnets, and ship-to-shore cranes.

The Conservative leader said China has been exploiting “weak labour and environmental standards” to produce artificially cheap steel, aluminum, and EVs.

“They’re doing this with the goal of crushing our steel, our aluminum, and our automotive production, and taking our jobs away,” he said on Aug. 9.