US Trade Representative Katherine Tai on Thursday gave a strong endorsement to Canada’s decision to impose a 100 per cent tariff on Chinese-made electric vehicles and 25 per cent on Chinese steel and aluminium as she finalises US duties planned at similar rates.
In a statement issued by her office, Tai applauded Canada’s decision to take strong action against China’s “state-directed, unfair and anticompetitive non-market policies and practices, which threaten the existence of our market-oriented industries”.
She said this was an important step to ensure that Canada’s workers and companies could compete fairly in the electric vehicle, steel and aluminium industries.
“We share Canada’s concerns over the PRC’s unfair, non-market policies and practices and its failure to uphold labour rights, enforce environmental protections, and promote fair, market-oriented competition,” Tai said, using the acronym for the People’s Republic of China.
Canada announced on Tuesday that it will impose the tariffs starting on October 1, including on EVs made in China by US-based Tesla, to counter what Prime Minister Justin Trudeau called China’s intentional, state-directed policies that have created excess production capacity in these industries.
The move comes as the US trade representative is expected to announce final implementation plans by the end of August for tariffs on US$18 billion worth of Chinese imports, including duties of 100 per cent on EVs, 50 per cent on semiconductors and solar cells, and 25 per cent on lithium-ion batteries.
Many US companies have asked for the duties to be eased, and exclusions expanded, but a US official told Reuters in Beijing that the expectation was for the Biden-Harris administration to follow through with well-communicated intentions on the tariffs.
