Canada Adds Penalties On Steel, Aluminum, And EVs From China
The Canadian government recently announced it would impose significant new trade penalties on imports from China. These measures will affect industrial metals products. Specifically:
- Effective Oct. 1, 2024, there will be a 100 percent surtax on electric vehicles (EVs) manufactured in China.
- Effective Oct. 15, 2024, a 25 percent surtax will be applied to a list of selected Chinese steel and aluminum products.
The initial list of affected steel and aluminum products includes bars, pipe, plate, sheet, and wire. It does not include products such as pipe fittings, structures, netting, and several other consumer-oriented products. The government will announce the final list of goods subject to the surtaxes by Oct.1, 2024.
As legal experts at the Canadian firm MacMillan, LLP explained, this shift aligns the Canadian government with the U.S. government, which recently imposed similar 100 percent duties on Chinese EVs and, for the last several years, has imposed penalties on aluminum and steel products from China.
The Canadian government also said it will initiate another round of consultations regarding other critical infrastructure sectors linked to the country’s security interests, including batteries and battery parts, semiconductors, and critical minerals.
Click here to read more from Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland about these decisions.