By Sanxuan

Under the pressure of rapeseed tariffs, Canada seems to be preparing to compromise.

Recently, Canadian Agriculture Minister Macdonald admitted that Canada can't hold out any longer and is ready to discuss lowering the tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles. Previously, Canada had announced a 100% high tariff on electric vehicles from China.

The incident started like this. Long before Trump took office, Canada had already started a trade war with China, raising tariffs on China to 100% for no reason.

At first, we didn't want to escalate the issue, so we discussed with Canada several times with a spirit of harmony, but the other side was unyielding. So we decided not to indulge them anymore and immediately announced an anti-dumping investigation on Canadian rapeseed.

After nearly a year of investigation, China determined that Canadian rapeseed was being sold at a dumping price and decided to impose a 75.8% deposit. However, from Canada's perspective, this was a retaliatory tariff measure by China. Especially after Trump took office, the tariff war escalated, and Sino-Canadian trade friction also intensified.

But even though Canada is tough in words, it can't withstand the pressure of reality. China is the main buyer of Canadian rapeseed. Last year alone, China bought 5 billion Canadian dollars worth of rapeseed.

Now that Canada has been retaliated by China, its rapeseed can't be sold, the price has plummeted, and many farmers are angry, pressuring the government to ease relations with China.

Meanwhile, the neighboring country, the United States, is also not quiet. In order to quickly end the Ukraine-Russia conflict, Trump actually pressured G7 allies to impose a 100% tariff on China. The reason is still the same, China is a buyer of Russian oil, the tariff stick hits China, hurting Russia, only by cutting off Russia's financial resources will Putin agree to peace talks.

Trump's calculations are almost jumping into the faces of bystanders. America dares not take action against China, so it incites allies to be pawns.

The EU was caught off guard and didn't know what to do, so they just adopted a delaying tactic. But Canada, under the pressure of the rapeseed industry, may become the first to resist Trump.

At the same time, the premiers of several provinces in Canada have also pressured Prime Minister Kenney to improve relations with China. If the federal government insists on blindly following the US, the provinces will conduct business with China on their own.

Under the dual pressures of economy and politics, Kenney's attitude has changed, expressing willingness to dialogue with China multiple times. Recently, Saskatchewan province sent a delegation to visit China. This province is the largest rapeseed producing area in Canada, and the purpose of the visit is obvious.

However, at the federal government level, Canada's negotiation sincerity is still lacking. Although Macdonald said that they are considering reducing the tariffs on China, he couldn't help adding a sentence, which cannot come at the expense of the interests of other industries.

What he means is that the rapeseed industry must be protected, and other industries should not make concessions. It's a typical "want both" situation. Want China to cancel the tariff on rapeseed, but also want to continue to impose tariffs on Chinese goods. There's no such logic in the world.

Nevertheless, compared to other Western countries that are trying to impose tariffs on China, it's already very difficult for Canada to make such a statement under American pressure.

Recently, the Kenney office also issued a statement, saying that the Canadian delegation's visit to China achieved significant results, and the talks with China went well, hoping to reach a solution as soon as possible.

We also want to end the tariff war as soon as possible, but it depends on how sincere Canada is. Although Kenney made a lot of harsh remarks about Trump before taking office, it turns out he's not much better than his predecessor Trudeau.

Original article: https://www.toutiao.com/article/7549407804671427106/

Statement: This article represents the personal views of the author. Please express your opinion by clicking the [Up/Down] buttons below.