{"id":408343,"date":"2026-01-14T09:31:09","date_gmt":"2026-01-14T09:31:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/408343\/"},"modified":"2026-01-14T09:31:09","modified_gmt":"2026-01-14T09:31:09","slug":"government-officials-tell-canola-industry-not-to-expect-an-end-to-tariffs-despite-carneys-china-visit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/408343\/","title":{"rendered":"Government officials tell canola industry not to expect an end to tariffs despite Carney\u2019s China visit"},"content":{"rendered":"

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

Canola fields flowering near Blaine Lake, Saskatchewan. Prime Minister Mark Carney’s China visit has raised hopes that an end was in sight for the costly canola trade dispute that began with Beijing’s tariffs on meal and oil in March, 2025, and escalated to levies on canola seed in August.David Stobbe\/Reuters<\/p>\n

Government officials have told the beleaguered canola industry that it should not expect the Prime Minister\u2019s trip to China<\/a> to result in the elimination of tariffs, and to prepare for reduced rates at best, sources say. <\/p>\n

Over the past few weeks, federal officials have asked grain traders to identify acceptable tariff rates for canola products facing restrictions from Beijing, according to three industry sources. <\/p>\n

Officials have also warned the sector not to anticipate a return to zero tariffs across the board, according to two sources. <\/p>\n

The Globe and Mail is not identifying the sources because they were not authorized to speak publicly on the matter. <\/p>\n

Ottawa is attempting to manage expectations as Prime Minister Mark Carney<\/a> visits China this week in a bid to reset the relationship and build trade ties. The visit, announced last week, raised hopes that an end was in sight for the costly canola trade dispute that began with tariffs on meal and oil in March, 2025, and escalated to levies on canola seed in August. <\/p>\n

Opinion: This will be the real test of Mark Carney\u2019s visit to China<\/a><\/p>\n

The federal government has repeatedly assured industry and the western provinces that easing the trade restrictions was a top priority, and progress appeared promising. High-level officials in both the Canadian and Chinese governments engaged in negotiations throughout December, driving rumours of a trade deal in January. <\/p>\n

Agriculture Minister Heath MacDonald is joining the delegation, and on Monday, Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe<\/a> announced that he would also attend, raising hopes higher. <\/p>\n

However, the dispute has pitted one industry against another. China\u2019s canola tariffs are tied to Ottawa\u2019s 100-per-cent tariffs on Chinese-made electric vehicles<\/a>, and Beijing has consistently said it will not remove restrictions on agricultural products until Ottawa drops the EV levies.<\/p>\n

Earlier this week, one government official told The Globe that a breakthrough that could affect canola shipments is possible, but that Ottawa will not strike an agreement to cut EV<\/a> tariffs if it\u2019s not sufficiently beneficial to Canada. And one business executive said they had been told by Canadian officials there was hope for an agreement affecting EV levies, but that discussions are continuing. The Globe did not identify the sources.<\/p>\n

As trade war drags on, Canadian canola farmers sit on a mountain of seed<\/a><\/p>\n

The view from China: What does Beijing want from Carney\u2019s visit?<\/a><\/p>\n

Without concrete movement on EVs, canola is unlikely to get a return to zero tariffs. While preferable to 100-per-cent tariffs on canola oil and meal, and 75.8-per-cent tariffs on seed, reduced tariffs will not necessarily make Canadian canola competitive to Chinese buyers, some industry sources said.<\/p>\n

For example, if Ottawa lowers EV tariffs to 50 per cent and China reduces agricultural tariffs to 50 per cent, Canadian canola still would not be competitive in a market where it is up against European vegetable oilseeds and Australian canola<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Calculating competitive tariff rates is also a guessing game, said Tony Tryhuk, a commodities futures trader at RBC Dominion Securities. Only Chinese buyers know the landed price of Canadian canola versus the price of substitutes from elsewhere, and they are also the ones paying the cost of the tariff. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe can guess what tariff level would make it work, but we\u2019d be guessing at best,\u201d Mr. Tryhuk said. <\/p>\n

With reports from Steven Chase<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Open this photo in gallery: Canola fields flowering near Blaine Lake, Saskatchewan. Prime Minister Mark Carney’s China visit…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":408344,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[45,49,48,46,6347],"class_list":{"0":"post-408343","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-economy","8":"tag-business","9":"tag-ca","10":"tag-canada","11":"tag-economy","12":"tag-ne-i"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/408343","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=408343"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/408343\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/408344"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=408343"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=408343"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=408343"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}