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Faced with the pressure of tariffs from China and the United
Date�2025-03-13 19:17Editer:adminRead��
China recently announced that it will impose tariffs on Canadian seafood and other products starting from March 20th, putting pressure on Canada's agriculture, seafood, and food processing industries. According to the Toronto Star on the 10th, British Columbia Governor David Ibby called on Ottawa to re-examine its tariff policies towards all countries. The Vancouver Sun reported on the 11th that the production season for Canadian seafood such as spotted shrimp is about to begin, and industry insiders hope that Canada and China can resolve trade issues before tariffs are implemented.
On the 10th, Abe stated that the Canadian government should make concessions in the trade dispute with China. For British Columbia, the escalation of tariffs on China is a big deal. I believe that Canada initially imposed tariffs on China to please the (US) President, but it did not achieve the expected effect. "He further explained," The (US) President is completely indifferent to our policy towards China. In fact, he doesn't seem to have any intention of giving Canada better treatment than China
The Toronto Star reported that Canada will follow the United States in October 2024 and impose tariffs of the same rate (25%) on some Chinese products (steel and aluminum), as well as a 100% tariff on electric vehicles produced in China. When announcing these tariff measures, the Trudeau government made it clear that it would be in line with the United States.
A few months later, Beijing responded, "said the Toronto Star. After China imposed tariff measures, the aquaculture industry in British Columbia, located on the Pacific coast, suffered a huge blow. According to CTV television and The Vancouver Sun, many local seafood associations sell over 90% of their catch to China. For example, Cameron, the president of the Crab Fishermen's Association in the province, said, "In 2023, we will export crabs worth $223 million, of which 90% will be sold to China." The executive director of the Seafood Alliance in the province, Burridge, said, "Tariffs are particularly severe for elephant clams because 90% of them are sold to the Chinese market. According to the alliance mentioned above, these niche catches have generated considerable income, with the Pacific Elephant Clam alone bringing in $50 million in annual revenue for the province. Austin, the president of the British Columbia Fisheries Association, stated that due to the usual pre-sale model, ship owners have little room to pass on tariff costs to wholesale buyers and are unlikely to catch seafood before the March 20th deadline. Austin said that the aquaculture industry is already facing severe challenges, and 'the last thing we want to see happen'.
China is Canada's second largest seafood export market, followed by the United States. On March 4th, the United States imposed a 25% tariff on almost all Canadian imports. Although tariffs on seafood and other products were later postponed to next month, Global News Canada quoted Lamont, Managing Director of Tangier Lobster Limited in Nova Scotia, as saying that China's decision to impose tariffs on Canadian seafood "will only make the thorny issues we have been dealing with even crazier" as Canada has become a target of US tariffs.
Lamont believes that since Canada took action first, it is not surprising that China retaliated. But with only a few weeks left until the spring fishing season, implementing tariffs on Canadian goods in the middle of the season could be very dangerous for the industry. Scott, Executive Director of the Nova Scotia Seafood Alliance, believes that China's countermeasures against Canadian seafood are a "strategically significant blow".
Canadian rapeseed products are also facing a pincer attack. The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) quoted Ellis, the president of the Manitoba Rapeseed Growers Association, as saying that Canada exports rapeseed products worth approximately $3.5 billion to China and $5.5 billion to the United States. The simultaneous increase in taxes on related products by China and the United States will plunge the Canadian rapeseed industry into a catastrophic disaster, "said Davidson, President and CEO of the Canadian Rapeseed Council.
Davidson said, "We advocate and strongly support predictable duty-free transactions." To this end, he called on the Canadian government to engage in very systematic and substantive contact with its trading partner China. The British Columbia Crab Fishermen's Association also spoke out on CTV television, stating, "China is our largest export market to date and our reliable trading partner." The association hopes that the Canadian government will intervene and resolve the tense situation to prevent tariffs from causing serious damage to business.
British Columbia Premier Abi called on the federal government to study tariff policies targeting global trading partners, "Please understand that we do not want to be sandwiched by the world's two largest economies - the United States and China, and ensure that we achieve diversification on a global scale.
However, there is still a transitional period between Trudeau's departure and Carney's inauguration as Prime Minister, who has just won the position of leader of the Liberal Party. The Vancouver Sun reported that Canadian seafood industry professionals are unsure who to lobby during this period, "whether (China) can give us a probation is also uncertain
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