If Canadians were in the driver’s seat, tariffs imposed by Ottawa on Chinese electric vehicles (EV) would have an easier road to the Canadian market.
At least that’s according to a Nanos Research survey with CTV News, which found 62 per cent of respondents either support or somewhat support removing a 100 per cent tax on all Chinese-made EVs, in the hopes that China may remove tariffs against Canadian crops like Canola.
Just what we need.
… As reported previously by The Bureau in coverage of a sweeping FinTRAC warning on Chinese underground banking in Toronto, FinCEN is now raising similar alarms. The Treasury said so-called “money mules” often rely on falsified jobs and identities to gain access to the banking system, disguise unexplained wealth, and buy residential properties. In cases where these mules opened accounts, they frequently listed occupations such as “student,” “housewife,” “retired,” or “laborer” — roles that would not normally involve large volumes of financial activity — yet the accounts showed high-value deposits and transactions consistent with laundering.
Beijing’s escalation of tariffs on Canadian agricultural products has prompted prominent voices such as Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe to push Ottawa to drop its tariffs on Chinese EVs.
The argument is that Ottawa’s tariffs primarily benefit the central Canada-based EV sector, while Western farmers bear the cost of China’s retaliation, including its recent 75.8 percent tariffs on Canadian canola. Alberta Premier Danielle Smith has noted that China understands “divisions” in Canada and that it uses targeted tariffs to divide the country to Beijing’s advantage.
You might have seen those bright yellow fields reaching toward the horizon under a clear blue sky — fields of canola spread across Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba, bringing in billions of dollars each year for farmers and their families.
Now the annual harvest is in danger: one of Canada’s biggest customers, China, has slapped a 76 per cent tariff on canola seed, as well as a 100 per cent tariff on canola oil and meal. Why has it done this? In retaliation for the 100 per cent tariff Canada applied to Chinese electric vehicles starting last October. We were copying the United States at the time, back when relations between our two countries were more cordial, to protect the American and Canadian auto industries. But the Canadian sector, which operates mostly in Ontario, has yet to produce a single EV.
China’s behaviour has not changed since the founding of the People’s Republic of China. It aims to create wedges between America and its allies in the hope of undermining U.S. economic, political, diplomatic and security interests in the Indo-Pacific region.
Prominent scholar Yan Xue Tong of Tsinghua University explained China’s long-term interests this way …
A poll recently conducted by Gallup has found that the Chinese Communist Party has a higher approval rating than United States President Donald Trump among Canadians.
The vast majority of Canadians disapproved of Russian President Vladimir Putin, though the margin between him and his American counterpart was rather slim.
The largest and oldest shipyard in Canada says it didn’t stand a chance in bidding against a Chinese company to build four new vessels for B.C. Ferries.
It’s the latest criticism levelled at the ferry operator following its decision to purchase the vessels from Chinese-state owned CMI Weihai Shipyards. That criticism and China’s punishing new tariffs on Canadian agriculture products have renewed calls for the contract to be cancelled.
This stinks.
China’s announcement this week of a 75.8% tariff on Canadian canola seed, effective Thursday, is not an isolated policy shift — it’s the latest escalation in a trade conflict that Ottawa itself helped set in motion.
Earlier this year, on March 20, Beijing imposed 100% tariffs on Canadian canola oil, canola meal, and peas, along with an additional 25% on lobster and pork. These measures were already weighing on our agri-food exports.
Sam Cooper – In this sweeping conversation with Jason James of BNN, I discuss some of The Bureau’s biggest investigations of the summer — including the widening pattern of prosecutorial failures in major synthetic narcotics and money laundering cases in British Columbia. We spotlight the recent collapse of charges against a Chinese-state linked scientist accused of importing over 100 kilograms of precursors for MDMA production.
Canada has renewed funding for a bilateral scholarship program that requires Chinese candidates applying to study in Canada to show allegiance to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and uphold the party’s “socialist system.”
David Morrison, deputy minister of foreign affairs at Global Affairs Canada, on July 30 signed an agreement with his Chinese counterpart, executive vice minister Ma Zhaoxu, to renew the Canada-China Scholars’ Exchange Program. Through the program, Ottawa funds Chinese applicants to conduct research at Canadian universities as visiting scholars for 4–12 months.
Transport Minister Chrystia Freeland told MPs Friday she was “dismayed” by BC Ferries’ decision to purchase four new electric-diesel ships from a Chinese shipbuilder using a $1 billion federal loan — but did not call for the loan’s cancellation.
The House of Commons transport committee launched a study of the Canada Infrastructure Bank loan on Friday.
At the meeting, committee members voted in favour of a motion calling on the Canada Infrastructure Bank, BC Ferries and the federal government to show the committee several documents — including the complete bond purchase agreement and records of all options for the acquisition of the new vessels — by the end of August.
Don’t be surprised if Canadians never find out someone was getting their palms greased.
Some premiers expressed support for closer trade ties with China last week as a way to reduce Canada’s reliance on the United States amid rising tariff tensions. There have also been recent newspaper commentaries echoing Beijing’s position that Canada should forge a closer relationship with China.
Some observers say there appears to be forces pushing Canadian politicians toward China amid tensions with Washington. Catherine Swift, president of the Coalition of Concerned Manufacturers and Businesses Canada, says profit may be a driving factor as corporations back closer ties with Beijing for access to economic opportunities and lower costs.
Ottawa is condemning Hong Kong’s announcement of arrest warrants and bounties for 19 pro-democracy activists, including several in Canada, as transnational repression that threatens this country’s sovereignty.
One of those targeted in Canada, Victor Ho, on Sunday warned Canadian politicians now urging closer ties with Beijing to be mindful of repression practised by the ruling Chinese Communist Party.
OTTAWA — Taiwan’s ambassador to Canada has dismissed a series of full-page newspaper ads taken out by the Chinese Embassy as little more than sabre-rattling over the communist regime’s claims over the east-Asian nation.
The country is a NATO ally and G7 member. While the U.S.-U.K. relationship is often touted as Washington’s most “special,” the Canadian relationship is arguably the most critical to the future of the U.S. economy and soft power. The projection of U.S. hard power abroad depends in part on positive global public perception of Washington’s leadership. This stems from the United States being a beacon of freedom and arsenal of democracy in World War I, World War II, crises across the Taiwan Strait, the Korean war, and others. If after all of that, we now treat Canada with a lack of foresight for short-term trade interests, we lose at least some of our moral high ground, which negatively affects our soft power, and as well our long-term national interests.
