The Canadian government announced it was considering whether to apply new import tariffs on Chinese made electric vehicles (EVs), following similar moves by the US and the European Union (EU) in recent months as international concern grew over the extent of Chinese government support for its industry.

In April the US government announced tariffs hikes on a wide number of Chinese made products, including 100% duties on Chinese EVs (including on China made Teslas) while the EU earlier this month announced additional duties of up to 38% on Chinese EVs.

Deputy prime minister Chrystia Freeland said the government would hold a 30 day consultation on the subject starting in early July to gauge public and local industry opinion ahead of a final decision.

Freeland said Canada’s automotive sector “supports nearly 550,000 good paying Canadian jobs” and suggested the industry was threatened by “unfair competition from China’s state directed policy of overcapacity that is undermining Canada's EV sector ability to compete in the domestic and global markets. Chinese producers are quite intentionally generating a global oversupply that undermines EV producers around the world, including here in Canada”.

Freeland said the public consultations would help the Canadian government decide whether to apply new tariffs on Chinese imports.