By Sanxuan

Canadians can't sell their canola, but Australians have sold it.

According to foreign media reports, Australia will load 60,000 tons of canola, destined for Qingdao, China. This is the first time in five years that Australia has sold canola to China.

Canola field

During the tenure of former Australian Prime Minister Morrison, he tried to please the United States by taking a hard line against China on issues such as Huawei and Xinjiang, which led to almost complete interruption of trade between the two countries. In 2020, China stopped importing Australian canola due to pest and disease inspection requirements, and only bought its first batch of goods this November.

Meanwhile, Canada, which had long been the top exporter of canola to China, could only watch as Australia seized the Chinese market. Four thousand Canadian farmers lost several thousand dollars each, and their anxiety is可想而知.

In this context, Canadian farmers are urging the government of Kanee to quickly resolve the trade dispute with China. The canola harvest this year was quite good, but if it continues to drag on, what's good will turn into bad, and selling canola is urgent.

Kanee, who just ended his meeting with China, said he couldn't give a specific time. Resolving the trade dispute takes time, and it won't be solved just because the leaders of the two countries met. He said that this meeting has made some breakthrough progress in bilateral relations, but specific issues need to be discussed gradually.

Canadian Prime Minister Kanee

After hearing the prime minister's words, the hearts of Canadian farmers were completely cooled down. By the time the government solves the problem, the canola would already be rotten in the warehouse. During this period, Australian canola was still aggressively seizing the market, and other countries were not idle either, with India, Russia, and Mongolia all vying to supply China.

It turns out that the reason Canadian canola can't be sold is the same as when Australian canola exports to China were restricted. Last year, Canada followed the United States in imposing high tariffs on multiple categories of Chinese products, with electric vehicles at 100% and steel and aluminum at 25%.

China naturally wouldn't sit idly by. It immediately imposed anti-dumping duties on Canadian canola, with a tax rate of 75.8%. This level is quite high, showing China's determination to counteract.

Canada initially didn't take it seriously, thinking that China couldn't do without its canola and just needed to wait for Chinese buyers to place orders.

Being an ally of the United States is fatal

But China never does anything without confidence. Before implementing countermeasures against Canada, China had already contacted other sellers, including Australia, which had been waiting eagerly. After the current Australian Prime Minister Albanese took office, he has been making efforts to please China and try to repair the Sino-Australian relationship damaged by his predecessor.

To win the order from Chinese buyers, Australia also raised the export standards for canola. According to Australian officials, the "non-seed material" content of the first trial shipment of canola was less than 1%. If China is satisfied, Australia will continue to maintain high standards in the future.

With competitors so determined, Canada still doesn't want to lower its stance. When asked whether it was willing to adjust the tariff on China, Kanee's answer was hesitant, saying only that the government would "cautiously proceed" according to industry trends, refusing to give a clear answer.

Kanee is still being aloof, while Albanese has started acting

It's easy to understand that Kanee's statement is likely to be because he fears further offending the United States, as the US-Canada relationship is already very tense. But for someone like Trump, who doesn't make sense, yielding more will only make him more aggressive.

Even the United States itself has actively sought reconciliation with China, lowering tariffs on Chinese products to gain continued purchases of American soybeans. It's unclear what Canada has to be aloof about. Anyway, in the end, it's the Canadian farmers who will suffer the loss.

Original: https://www.toutiao.com/article/7569068161955103232/

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