Chrystia Freeland, Canada's Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance, announced a series of measures to level the playing field for Canadian workers and make Canada’s electric vehicle (EV) industry and steel and aluminum producers competitive in domestic, North American, and global markets.

Among them, a 100% surtax will be imposed on all EVs made by China. The target includes electric and certain hybrid passenger automobiles, trucks, buses, and delivery vans. The surtax, effective on October 1, 2024, will be collected along with the current Most Favored Nation (MFN) tariff of 6.1% that applies to China-made EVs.

Besides, in order to protect Canadian workers from China’s unfair trade policies and prevent trade diversion caused by recent actions by Canada’s trading partners, the Canadian government will also impose a 25% surtax on imports of steel and aluminum products from China, effective October 15, 2024.

For the surtax on China’s steel and aluminum products, an initial list was released on August 26 for public comment. The final list will be notified by October 1, 2024, with the surtaxes becoming effective on October 15, 2024.

This surtax doesn’t apply to Chinese goods in transit to Canada on the date the surtax takes effect.

The Canadian government intends to review these measures announced on August 26 within a period of one year from their entry into force. These measures may be further extended for a period of time and supplemented with other measures as appropriate.