The United States will impose 100 per cent tariffs on Canadian imports should Ottawa finalise a new trade deal with China, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said on Sunday, amplifying a similar threat from US President Donald Trump a day earlier.
“We can’t let Canada become an opening that the Chinese pour their cheap goods into the US,” Bessent said on ABC’s This Week programme.
During a visit to Beijing on January 16, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney announced a thaw in bilateral relations with China, saying the two countries had struck a “new strategic partnership” and a preliminary trade deal.
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Under the deal, China is expected to reduce tariffs on canola imports from Canada by March 1 to around 15 per cent, down from the current 84 per cent.
China will also allow Canadian visitors to enter the country visa-free. In turn, Canada will import 49,000 Chinese electric vehicles (EVs) under new, preferential tariffs of 6.1 per cent.
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The deal came amid a US-Canada trade war, with the Trump administration imposing import duties on its northern neighbour.
