Alberta Prime Minister Daniel Smith says China is taking advantage of Canada’s “splitting” by dealing with Ottawa’s electric car rates, which affect industry in eastern Canada.
“I can interpret it as if I understand the division of our country. They understand that if you retaliate and create the greatest pressure, then you do it by attacking one region against the other,” Smith said at a May 16 press conference in response to Epoch Times’ questions about China’s strategy.
The Prime Minister said last year, Ottawa’s tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles led to a move targeted by Beijing in Lockstep with the US.
“The unfortunate outcome is that in Canada we have 100% tariffs on vehicles that no one really wants because I don’t think there’s a huge amount of demand for electric vehicles in China.
“And the result is that China’s retaliation is against the product everyone wants: pork and canola.”
China’s retaliatory tariffs, effective March 20, included 100% duties on Canadian canola oil, oil cakes and peas imports, and included a 25% tax on Canadian seafood and pork.
Smith added that the impact of China’s tariffs on the Canadian agricultural community is “large” and that she and the Prime Minister of Saskatchewan and Manitoba are calling on Ottawa to work with them to develop a viable response.
The federal government called China’s taxes “unjust” and vowed to “support from shoulder to shoulder” to keep tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles still in place, while farmers and fishermen affected by the measure.
“We will never be the back door to cheap Chinese vehicles that are oversubsidized and do not respect labor or environmental laws,” then-industrial minister François Philippe Champagne said in March following Beijing’s retaliation.
Demand for electric vehicles in Canada is declining. Recent data from Statistics Canada shows that EV sales in March fell 44% compared to the same month last year.
Slow sales have led some automakers to slow down their investment in EVs. On May 13, Honda Canada announced it would delay its $15 billion investment project for electric vehicle production in Ontario. In April, GM Canada suspended production at its EV plant in Ingersol, Ontario due to low demand for EV offerings. The company has fired about 500 employees.
Trade relations
Smith said that Canada’s relationship with China has not returned to the provinces that predated the arbitrary Michael Cobrig and Michael Span, arbitrary Michael Cobrig and Michael Span, which ranged from 2018 to 2021.
The two men were taken into custody on espionage a few days after Canada arrested Huaway executive Meng Wanzhou over a US extradition warrant for fraud. Both spent nearly three years in Chinese prisons before being released in a transaction that allowed Meng to return to China.
Kovrig, who appeared on CTV News’ power play on May 15, said China was “not a friendly country” and that attempts to reset ties with Beijing would not only be “not viable” but would also invite a “cold shower.”
Kovrig also warned that Beijing is trying to dominate the global supply chain by controlling key minerals and advanced technologies, including artificial intelligence (AI).
At a press conference on May 16, Smith said the US was “very worried about China winning the AI data race.” She added that Canada can play a role in supplying the electricity its southern neighbors need to achieve dominance in the territory.
“(Americans) understand that if China controls North America it will really change the way the world operates,” she said.
The Prime Minister suggested that in addition to the “AI battle,” the “economic battle” in which the US is involved with China will now affect the way Ottawa shapes Washington’s relationship with Beijing in the future.
“I think Americans are increasingly hoping to limit the amount of trade with China as part of their terms of access to the market,” she said.
Smith said her government is trying to better understand the evolving dynamics of Canada-US relationship through the province’s new North American Initiative Research Program, which began on May 16th.
“This is a different kind of conversation we were talking about a year ago, but it’s very important to understand how we maintain our prioritized relationship with the US and still find new markets, but… we don’t have to find a balance and sacrifice each other.”
Carolina Avendano and Olivia Gomu contributed to this report.
