“Canada will not sign a free trade agreement with China”
Washington, Jan 25 (EFE).-
Prime Minister Mark Carney said Sunday that Canada has no intention of signing a free trade agreement with China after United States President Donald Trump threatened to impose 100% tariffs if the neighboring country signed such a trade pact with Beijing.
“We have no intention of doing that with China or any other nonmarket economy,” Carney said in statements to the media.
“What we have done with China is to rectify some issues that developed in the last couple of years,” the PM added.
His words came a day after Trump said on social media that if Canada agreed to a free trade framework with China, he would impose a 100% tariff on all Canadian goods and products entering the US.
In 2024, Canada implemented a 100% tariff on electric vehicles and a 25% tariff on steel and aluminum imported from Beijing. China retaliated by levying 100% import taxes on Canadian canola oil and meal and a 25% tax on pork and seafood.
This month, during a trip to China, Carney diverged from the United States by agreeing to remove Canada’s 100% tariff on Chinese electric vehicles in exchange for China lowering its tariffs on certain Canadian goods.
Carney said instead there would be an initial annual cap of 49,000 vehicles on Chinese EV imports at a tariff rate of 6.1%, growing to about 70,000 over five years.
They also mentioned that the initial restriction on electric vehicle imports from China accounted for roughly 3% of the 1.8 million vehicles sold in Canada each year. In return, China is anticipated to start investing in the Canadian automotive sector within three years. EFE
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