Trade war with China could have devastating impact on Canadian canola farmers

Canada's agriculture industry is calling on Ottawa for help after China announced Tuesday it is imposing a tariff of 75.8 per cent on Canadian canola imports.

“Here we go again. If it’s not one thing, it’s another, especially with China. They’ve always got something up their sleeve so they can drop our price.”

That’s how John Guelly, a canola producer near Westlock, Alta., reacted to Tuesday’s news that China is slapping a 75.8 per cent tariff on imports of Canadian canola.

Guelly, who is a former chair of Canola Alberta, an advocacy group for the province’s 14,000 canola farmers, estimates the value of the Canadian canola production at $12 billion annually, or about 15 per cent of the total income Canadian farmers receive from the sale of agricultural commodities each year.

China is the world’s largest importer of canola — purchasing nearly all of it from Canada, and using it primarily to make animal feed for its aquaculture sector.

In March, China also imposed a 100 per cent levy on Canadian canola oil and meal, plus peas, and a 25 per cent duty on Canadian seafood and pork.

China claims these crippling new tariffs are needed to prevent “dumping” of Canadian canola into the Chinese market, hurting domestic canola farmers.

But the tariffs on raw canola are widely believed to be a China’s response to Canada imposing a 100 per cent tariff on Chinese electric vehicles that was put in place in October 2024.

Chinese EVs are significantly less expensive than North American-made EVs, in part because of lower labour and environmental standards and state subsidies.