AutoBeta(AutoBeta.net)10/02 Report--

On October 2, the Information Office of the Ministry of Commerce announced that a spokesman for the Ministry of Commerce answered questions on Canada's effective implementation of tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles and the release of the final product list of tariffs on Chinese steel and aluminum products.

According to an announcement issued by Canada, Canada imposed a 100% surtax on electric vehicles imported from China, which came into effect on October 1. The Chinese side firmly opposes this. The Ministry of Commerce said that China has taken note of the relevant documents issued by Canada. For some time, Canada has repeatedly ignored objective facts, ignored international economic and trade rules, ignored opposition and dissuasion from various parties, and insisted on following individual countries and taking unilateral crackdown measures against China. Canada's approach violates the principles of market economy and fair competition, seriously damages the normal economic and trade cooperation between Chinese and Canadian enterprises, seriously impacts China-Canada economic and trade relations, and disrupts and distorts the global industrial chain and supply chain.

The Ministry of Commerce pointed out that China has filed a lawsuit at the WTO against Canada's unilateralism and trade protectionism, and launched an anti-discrimination investigation into Canada's restrictive measures in accordance with the law. The Ministry of Commerce hopes that Canada will treat bilateral economic and trade cooperation rationally and objectively, respect facts, abide by WTO rules, and not go further and further along the wrong path. China will take all necessary measures to firmly safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of Chinese enterprises.

Five days ago, the Ministry of Commerce issued an announcement on an anti-discrimination investigation into Canada's restrictive measures against China. According to the announcement, the investigation is aimed at restrictions such as tariffs that Canada will impose on imports from China, including, but not limited to, a 100% surtax on all Chinese-made electric vehicles from October 1, 2024; a 25% surtax on imports of steel and aluminum products from China from October 15, 2024; and restrictions on the range of countries that can enjoy subsidies for Canadian clean energy vehicles. The investigation begins on September 26, 2024, and the duration of the investigation is usually three months, which can be extended appropriately under special circumstances.

Canadian Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland announced that a 30-day public consultation period will be launched on July 2 to discuss a series of proposed measures for China's electric vehicle imports to "protect Canadian auto workers and electric vehicle industry" and "prevent trade diversion caused by recent actions taken by Canada's trading partners". It said the Canadian car industry was facing "unfair competition from Chinese-led overcapacity policies", weakening the competitiveness of Canadian electric vehicles in the domestic and global markets. The next day, on the issue of "overcapacity theory", Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Mao Ning responded that China has repeatedly stated its position that China's electric vehicle industry has made positive contributions to the world's response to climate change and the realization of green energy transformation. It is pointed out that the politicization of economic and trade issues and the artificial erection of trade barriers will only undermine the normal economic and trade cooperation between China and Canada or the world, damage the stability of the international production and supply chain and global efforts to deal with climate change, and do not conform to the interests of either party.

On August 26, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced the policy details in Halifax, announcing a 100% tariff on electric vehicles from China from October 1, 2024, in addition to pure electric vehicles. it also includes plug-in hybrid cars, gas-electric hybrids, fuel cell vehicles, and covers passenger cars, trucks, buses and vans. At that time, the official of the Chinese Embassy in Canada said that despite China's repeated opposition and solemn representations, the Canadian government was bent on imposing tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles. The Chinese side expresses strong dissatisfaction and firm opposition to this. Canada's move is typical of trade protectionism and political dominance, ignoring WTO rules and inconsistent with Canada's self-proclaimed advocacy of global free trade and climate change.

It is worth mentioning that due to geographical location and other reasons, the Canadian electric vehicle market itself is not developed. According to the data, about 185000 electric vehicles were sold in Canada in 2023, an increase of about 50 per cent over the same period last year, but only 11 per cent of the total number of new cars registered. In addition, Canada's imposition of tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles will not hinder the globalization of China's electric vehicle industry chain, and will have little impact on Chinese independent brands. At present, Chinese-made electric cars exported to Canada mainly come from Tesla's Shanghai factory, but Tesla can supply to Canada through his US or German factories to avoid customs duties. Few other Chinese brands export electric vehicles to Canada at this stage.

Prior to this, both the United States and the European Union have announced tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles. Among them, the European Commission was scheduled to convene 27 member states to vote on whether to impose tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles on September 25, but the vote was postponed to October 4, and Chinese and European representatives are currently in close consultations in Brussels. To find an alternative to tariffs. Oliver Zipse, chief executive of BMW, also said in a statement today that the tariffs would only hurt companies operating around the world and could lead to an unbenefited trade dispute, and that the German government should take a clear position.

It is understood that according to EU procedures, if 15 member states vote against it, the plan to impose tariffs will be shelved, otherwise the EU will impose tariffs ranging from 7.8% to 35.3% on electric vehicles imported from China on the basis of a 10% import tariff on standard cars.

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