China imposed tariffs on many of Canada’s food and agricultural goods in response to tariffs Canada enacted in October 2024 on China’s aluminum, steel and electric vehicles, according to the Associated Press.
In addition to these tariffs, there will be an extra 100% charge on products such as peas, oil cakes and Canadian rapeseed oil and a 25% tariff on aquatic goods and pork. These tariffs will impact $2.6 billion worth of imported goods, according to Reuters.
The new tariffs will likely “compound the economic strain from the U.S. trade war,” Global News reported, especially considering China imported $5 billion worth of products from Canada in 2024.
“Canada is trying to protect itself from what would be the total collapse of our auto sector if we allow China to massively subsidize their autos,” Daniel Trefler, a University of Toronto’s Rotman School of Management’s professor and economist, said.
“The timing may serve as a warning shot,” said China director at Eurasia Group in Singapore, Dan Wang, according to Reuters. “By striking now, China reminds Canada of the cost of aligning too closely with American trade policy.”
Additional news regarding tariffs continued through March as the Trump administration claimed it may potentially “ease 25% import levies the White House is threatening Canada and Mexico with,” if they agree to add a 20% tariff on fentanyl, as has already been enacted with China.
These events directly follow President Donald Trump’s threats of increased tariff rates, claiming it will help the economy. On Tuesday Trump announced an upcoming 25% tariff on goods from any country that purchases oil or gas from Venezuela, according to USA Today.
On TruthSocial, Trump alleged that the purpose of such tariffs are in “retaliation to what he characterized as Venezuela intentionally flooding the U.S. with migrants who commit crimes as gang members.”
Currently, the U.S. tariff rate is 2%, with half of agricultural goods — which account for 94% of all imports — are imported to the U.S. duty free, or without an additional cost, according to the Office of the United States Trade Representative.
In 2021, the tariff rate was 1.47%. The highest recorded tariff rate in the past three decades was in 2019 with 13.78%, which preceded a significant decline in GDP (gross domestic product) annual growth in 2020 and a recession in 2020, according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. In other words, increased tariffs will have a negative effect on the economy as a whole, which may lead to a recession, as it did merely five years ago.
The Tax Foundation stated that $1.4 trillion of imports will be affected by the new tariffs by April 2025 and claims that tariffs from Trump’s first and current administrations “have raised prices and reduced output and employment, producing a net negative impact on the US economy.”
jamabil3@ramapo.edu
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