KLEIN: Carney’s golden chance to rescue Prairie farmers
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Prime Minister Mark Carney has been handed a golden parachute by the Chinese government. Their ambassador has said quite plainly: if Canada removes its 100% tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles, China will reciprocate by dropping its crippling levies on Canadian agriculture, most notably canola and pork. It’s not a gift. It’s leverage. But it’s an opportunity.
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Canada imposed its EV tariff regime last October, following the lead of the United States. The justification was to protect domestic manufacturing and guard national security. At the time, Ottawa argued China unfairly subsidized its EV sector, flooding the market with low-cost vehicles. The federal government also slapped 25% tariffs on Chinese steel and aluminum, further heightening trade tensions.
In retaliation, China imposed its own duties on Canadian agricultural products — 100% tariffs on canola oil and meal, and 75.8% on canola seed. China claims these were countermeasures against what it calls Canada’s “unilateral and unjustified” tariffs. “If Canada is ready to correct this practice, China will also respond accordingly,” Ambassador Wang Di said recently.
The timing could not be worse for Prairie producers. Saskatchewan’s exports to China plunged to just $96 million in August, a drop of 76% from the same month a year earlier. China remains Saskatchewan’s second-largest agri-food export market, worth $3.7 billion in 2024. Manitoba farmers are being hit as well. The canola industry represents thousands of jobs and contributes $43 billion to Canada’s economy. Each week of delay drains more income from producers, processors, and rural communities.
Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew has now stepped in — cautiously, but firmly. Over the weekend, he posted a letter to the prime minister urging the government to “seize the opportunity presented by recent remarks from the Chinese Ambassador.” He wrote that retaliatory tariffs are “threatening the livelihoods of thousands of Manitoba farmers and the stability of rural communities.” Kinew added that one large vertically integrated pork producer is already suffering a $19 million annualized loss, and he called on Ottawa to “eliminate the EV tariff in exchange for restoring full access for Canadian agricultural products to the Chinese market.”
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