The United States Trade Representative Katherine Tai has expressed support for Canada’s imposition of high tariffs on electric vehicles, steel, and aluminum from China. Tai also confirmed the U.S.’s plans to impose similar tariff rates.
In a statement released by the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) on Thursday, Tai stated, “I support Canada’s actions to protect workers and key industries from the impact of the People’s Republic of China’s unfair trade practices.”
Tai commended Canada for taking decisive action to resist China’s state-led, unfair, and anti-competitive non-market policies and practices that threaten market-oriented industries.
She emphasized that this is an important step in creating a fair competitive environment for workers and companies in Canada’s electric vehicle, steel, and aluminum industries.
“We share concerns with Canada about China’s unfair non-market policies and practices, as well as its failure to uphold labor rights, enforce environmental protection, and promote fair market-oriented competition.”
Tai also expressed willingness to work with Mary Ng, Canada’s Minister of International Trade, Export Promotion, and Economic Development, on this issue.
“I look forward to collaborating with Minister Ng. The United States and Canada will continue to promote employment, investment, and prosperity in North America based on the common values of market democracies, and protect our workers from the impact of unfair non-market behaviors.”
In order to protect its domestic manufacturing sector, Canada announced on Monday that starting from October 1, a 100% import tariff will be imposed on all electric vehicles manufactured in China, and a 25% tariff will be imposed on steel and aluminum imported from China starting October 15.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, when announcing this decision, stated that China “chose to seek unfair advantages for itself in the global market, endangering the security of our key industries and attempting to replace dedicated Canadian auto and metal workers.”
He emphasized, “Therefore, we are taking action to address this issue.”
The U.S. Trade Representative is expected to announce a final decision soon on whether to significantly increase tariffs on $18 billion worth of Chinese imports, including imposing a 100% tariff on electric vehicles, 50% on semiconductors and solar panels, and 25% on lithium-ion batteries.
The new tariffs were initially scheduled to take effect on August 1, but due to the Office of the United States Trade Representative studying over 1,100 public comments, the effective date has been postponed to September, with a final decision expected by the end of August.
(Partial information in this article was referenced from Reuters.)