Robbing Western farmers to pay for Eastern car batteries
By Gwyn Morgan
October 1st marked implementation of the Justin Trudeau government’s 100 percent surtax on imported Chinese electric vehicles (EVs). China has responded with an anti-dumping investigation into Canadian exports of canola – a critical cash crop for Canada’s farmers that is certainly not being sold in international markets for less than its domestic price.
China’s move resembles its past economic reprisals. Following Canada’s 2019 detention of Huawei’s chief financial officer, Meng Wanzhou, China retaliated by imprisoning two Canadian citizens and blocking canola imports from major Canadian exporters, costing Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba farmers an estimated $1.5 to $2.4 billion. As Canada’s second-most grown crop, canola contributed $13.6 billion to farm revenue last year, with China purchasing nearly 4.5 million tonnes worth almost $4 billion in 2022 alone.
The Liberal government rationalizes the EV surtax by labelling Chinese imports an “extraordinary threat” to Canadian auto workers. But Canadian auto workers are making almost no EVs. The real threat to them is the Trudeau government’s mandate that the auto industry phase out internal combustion engines by 2035.
Globally, such mandates have spurred panic among manufacturers. Italian Prime Minister Georgia Meloni recently condemned the EU’s similar mandate as “self-destructive,” with one of her ministers calling for a reassessment of the EU’s gasoline and diesel engine ban. Donald Trump recently promised that, if re-elected U.S. President, he will end his country’s EV mandate on his first or second day in office.
The Trudeau government, however, remains stubbornly stuck to the 2035 timeline. It is leaning heavily on subsidies to force Canada’s transition to EVs, committing $52.5 billion to attract Honda, Ford, Stellantis, Volkswagen, and General Motors, along with Swedish battery maker Northvolt – a company that’s in deep financial trouble – to Ontario and Quebec for EV production.