Pigs are seen at the Meloporc farm in Saint-Thomas de Joliette, Que., on June 26, 2019.SEBASTIEN ST-JEAN/AFP/Getty Images
Overshadowed by U.S. President Donald Trump’s global trade war, new Chinese tariffs on Canadian food and agricultural products are already taking a toll, industry leaders have warned.
Last month, in retaliation against Canadian tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles, Beijing imposed a 100-per-cent duty on most canola products and a 25-per-cent tariff on Canadian pork and seafood, piling the pressure on producers already facing uncertainty in the U.S. market.
Mr. Trump’s trade war has dominated the current election campaign, but more attention needs to be paid to how party leaders plan to handle relations with China, including resuming market access for Canadian companies, said Chris White, chief executive officer of the Canadian Meat Council.
Mr. White spoke to The Globe and Mail from Beijing, where he has been meeting with Chinese officials to lobby for tariff relief and emphasize the importance of that market to the Canadian meat industry.
“What they have said is they’re frustrated with some of the actions obviously of the Canadian government, particularly the tariffs on EVs, and they’re in a bit of a holding pattern right now to see what comes out of the Canadian election and what signals a new government sends in terms of its bilateral relationship with China,” Mr. White said.
“I would not say they’re sympathetic to our cause. They feel that their decision was predicated on an action that the Canadian government took. But they understand why our industry would be frustrated, because we’re not EV makers and we can’t control government policy on that.”
Some Canadian meat-processing facilities are projecting losses of more than $100-million this year, which could have knock-on effects for producers, threatening thousands of jobs, the CMC said in a statement. In particular, China is a key market for offal, which may otherwise go unsold.
Mr. White said that while China has been willing to use punitive tariffs against Canadian agriculture for political purposes, there is still a widespread recognition of the quality and safety of Canadian commodities.
Relations between Ottawa and Beijing have been in the deep freeze since the twin arrests in late 2018 of Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou at Vancouver’s airport and Canadians Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor in China.
Even after the “Two Michaels” saga ended, in 2021, ties did not improve, amid widespread reporting in Canada of allegations of Chinese interference in Canadian politics.
There did seem to be some progress in the past year: Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly made a surprise visit to Beijing in July, and her colleague Lawrence MacAulay followed in November, the first visit by a Canadian agricultural minister to China in six years.
Mr. White said visits by Canadian officials are important, as competitor countries often have top ministers passing through Beijing, making a case for their own exports.
While in China, Mr. MacAulay pressed for Beijing to drop restrictions on Canadian beef and called for greater market access for other food and agricultural products. But any hopes for improvement were dashed by the new tariffs announced earlier this year.
Facing intense trade pressure from the U.S., China has indicated it is willing to repair ties with Canada, with the country’s embassy in Ottawa saying last week Beijing was keen to “firmly safeguard multilateralism and the multilateral trading system” alongside likeminded countries.
Any progress will have to wait until the next Canadian government is in place, however, and Beijing is also wary of Ottawa trading tariff relief from the U.S. in return for strengthening restrictions on Chinese goods.
“U.S. tariffs have become the ‘sword of Damocles’ hanging over Mexico and Canada,” the state-run Global Times newspaper said in March. “In light of this, some Canadian politicians still harbour illusions about the U.S. and are attempting to divert the trouble toward China.”
Observers have suggested Canada could follow the model of Australia and the United Kingdom, both of which had poor relations with China but have seen ties improve substantially in recent years.
British Trade Minister Douglas Alexander was in China last week, following up on a visit by chancellor Rachel Reeves in January, and more high-profile trips are reportedly planned for later this year, including potentially by Prime Minister Keir Starmer.
Mr. White was hopeful Canada could follow suit once the next government shakes out, but he acknowledged that repairing relations is a long process, and tariff relief could be slow coming.
“Obviously we’d like the tariffs gone, but don’t want to give members a false sense that this is imminent, because it’s not,” he said.