After Canada announced its intention to impose tariffs on electric vehicles ( EVs ) and other steel and aluminum products produced in China, Beijing has pledged to take all necessary steps to safeguard the interests of Chinese businesses.  ,
Justin Trudeau, the country’s prime minister, announced on Monday that starting October 1, China will start imposing a 100 % tariff on imports of Chinese-made electric vehicles and a 25 % tariff on Chinese steel and aluminum.
” We are transforming Canada’s automotive industry to be a world leader in building the cars of tomorrow”, Trudeau said. However, China and other countries have chosen to give themselves an unfair advantage in the world market, compromising the safety of our vital sectors and displacing skilled American metalworkers and autoworkers.
While protectionism only protects what is protected, subsidies do not produce business competitiveness. Potential growth will be abandoned”, Lin Jian, a director of the Chinese Foreign Ministry, said in a press presentation on Tuesday.  ,
” The rapid advancement of China’s Vehicle market is the result of prolonged technology innovation, well-established business and supply chains, and total market competition”, he said. ” This is what occurs when our comparative benefits match the market’s needs,” the statement goes.
He claimed that China regrets and opposes the French side’s decision because it disregards facts, violates WTO regulations, and goes against historical trends.  ,
He claimed that this ostentatious action störches China-Canada trade relations, harms American businesses and consumers ‘ interests, and does little to support Canada’s green transition process and global climate change efforts.  ,
Some experts claimed that Canada’s tariffs will only have an impact on the exports of Tesla EVs from China because big Chinese EV manufacturers have not yet entered the American market. They claimed that while large Chinese electric car manufacturers like BYD were originally planning to export products to Canada in 2025, they will now have to think about starting factories there to prevent new tariffs.  ,
Effect on Tesla ,
According to Automotive News Canada, Tesla sold 36, 900 Vehicles in Canada last year, compared with 24, 400 in 2022. Elon Musk, the company’s CEO, is currently supplying Canada with its Vehicles manufactured in Shanghai, but it can evade the new tariffs by moving to US factories.  ,
Liu Chunsheng, an associate professor at the Beijing-based Central University of Finance and Economics, claimed that Tesla’s Automotive taxes could push China to reduce production there.  ,
” The major places of Chinese Vehicles are not the US and Canada, but Southeast Asia, Eastern Europe and some Belt and Road places”, Liu said. ” Canada’s taxes will not harm the export of Taiwanese EVs”.
” We must beware, however, that the US is now urging its allies to decrease or stop the goods of Taiwanese electric vehicles. Canada’s taxes will be a display and affect additional countries ‘ decisions”, he said. ” Besides, Tesla may be forced to reduce its creation in China”.
Tesla stated in March of this year that it had decreased its car production in China as a result of weak demand and fierce business competition. Reuters then reported, in May, that Tesla’s Model Y output in Shanghai was 49, 498 units in March and 36, 610 products in April– down 17.7 % and 33 % year-on-year, both.  ,  ,  ,  ,  ,
With a manufacturing capacity of about one million cars annually, Tesla’s Shanghai stock is the largest in the world.  ,
BYD’s plan ,
The Biden administration increased the US’s import tariff from 25 % to 100 % in May. It imposed a 25 % tariff on steel products in July, and a 10 % tariff on aluminum products that came from Mexico.  ,
Mexico has n’t already imposed tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles, but it has since stopped funding incentives like tax breaks or low-cost land for EV production there.
Chinese EV companies were subject to 17 to 38 percent tariffs from the European Union in early July, but analysts claimed Chinese EV companies had a value benefits and were able to withstand the EU’s new tariffs.
Now, BYD has been selling electronic trucks and trucks in Canada. The Shenzhen-based business reportedly intends to sell customer electric vehicles to Canada through a rideshare program with Uber, starting with financial in 2025.  ,
A multi-year strategic partnership between Uber and BYD was announced on July 31 as part of its commitment to introduce 100, 000 brand-new BYD Vehicles onto the Uber system in important global markets. According to the news, the relationship may start in Latin America and Europe before moving on to the Middle East, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand.  ,  ,
The United Kingdom government, according to a report from The Financial Times next month, is not immediately planning to investigate China’s auto industry grants or impose new tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles.
Additionally, Australia has never added any tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles. Over the past 15 times, more than 550, 000 China-made cars have been sold in Australia, media reports said.  ,
Read: China EVs also driving for EU’s secured industry
Observe Jeff Pao on X:  , @jeffpao3