Federal ministers meet with canola lobby to discuss new tariffs from China

Agriculture Minister Heath MacDonald and International Trade Minister Maninder Sidhu are meeting with canola groups Wednesday afternoon to discuss China’s announcement that it will hit Canada with a 75.8 per cent tariff on the crop.

The ministers have a meeting scheduled with the Canola Council of Canada and the Canadian Canola Growers Association.

The new duties are scheduled to come into effect Thursday.

The canola industry is calling for swift action by Ottawa, warning Beijing is threatening a tariff so steep it would effectively seal off its $5-billion market to Canada.

Conservative MP Michelle Rempel Garner told a news conference earlier Wednesday that the tariffs were “completely avoidable” and require an immediate response from the federal government.

“As a western Canadian, I cannot stress how devastating this is to our economy and to our agricultural producers,” the Alberta MP told reporters on Parliament Hill.

“Where are the Liberals on this? Why aren’t they out here today having a press conference on this?”

China started an anti-dumping probe of Canadian canola exports nearly a year ago.

That investigation was launched in response to Canada’s 100 per cent tariff on Chinese electric vehicles. 

Canada denies that it is dumping canola in China.

Dumping is a trade practice which sees exports from one country flood a foreign nation’s market with goods at prices lower than their domestic cost, undercutting local industry.