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[text/observer.com xiong chaoran] after the us government announced in may this year that it would impose high tariffs on chinese electric vehicles and steel, the canadian government followed suit and also imitated the us tariff policy on china. now, just after the us has just made another "black move" and proposed to ban smart connected and self-driving cars from using chinese software and hardware, canada is preparing to "follow suit" again.

according to a report by the canadian broadcasting corporation (cbc) on september 24, local time, canadian deputy prime minister and finance minister chrystia freeland announced that day that she was "absolutely" considering following the united states' practice and banning the import of automotive software and hardware from china or russia. "our government has made it very clear that we take china's overcapacity very seriously and we take the security threat from china very seriously."

according to reports, freeland made the remarks in response to a question that day. she did not provide specific details, but only said that the decision was made after consultation with canadian industry and labor organizations.

just one day before freeland made the above remarks, the us department of commerce officially announced on september 23 local time that it would propose to ban the use of key hardware and software from china in smart connected vehicles in the united states, and hoped to finalize the final rules before january 20 next year.

the u.s. commerce department reportedly hopes that the regulations proposed by its bureau of industry and security (bis) will apply to all wheeled vehicles that travel on public roads, such as cars, trucks and buses, but will not affect agricultural or mining vehicles that travel on private roads.

the statement said that the ban on software and hardware for china's intelligent connected vehicles will take effect in the 2027 model year and 2030 model year respectively. for cars without a model year, the ban will take effect on january 1, 2029.

the proposed ban will also prevent chinese automakers from testing their self-driving cars in the u.s. previously, chinese companies such as baidu, autox, and weride have obtained relevant approvals in california, and the arizona department of motor vehicles has also included pony.ai in the list of companies approved for testing.

although the proposed ban will also extend to automotive software and hardware produced by russia, another country defined by the united states as a "foreign entity of concern", us media said that the focus emphasized by washington officials is obviously the "risks" posed by chinese parts, because china is the only country capable of exporting cars to the united states.

in may this year, us president biden announced that the "section 301" tariffs imposed on china during the trump administration would be maintained, while tariffs on china's "target strategic products" would be significantly increased. among them, the tariffs on chinese electric vehicles would be tripled to 100%, and the tariffs onsemiconductorandsolar cellsthe united states will double its existing tariffs to 50% and impose new tariffs of 25% on other strategic goods such as lithium batteries and steel.

on august 26, local time, canadian prime minister trudeau announced that canada will impose a 100% tariff on electric vehicles imported from china and a 25% tariff on steel and aluminum imported from china. these tariff rates on china are comparable to those of the united states. the canadian ministry of finance said that the new tariff policy will take effect on october 1 and will apply to chinese electric vehicles, including passenger cars, trucks, buses and vans. the tariffs on steel and aluminum will take effect two weeks later.

just when canada seemed determined to use the tariffs to the fullest, china's counterattack was also quite clean and neat. "china does not seem to want to negotiate or make concessions with canada." reuters analysis mentioned that, unlike its previous attitude towards the eu's tariff increase policy, china did not even issue any public warnings to canada about countermeasures in advance. "for canada, they directly adopted the 'shock and awe' approach," said even pay, an agricultural analyst at the consulting firm trivium china.

after canada announced the imposition of additional tariffs on china, china quickly announced the launch of an anti-dumping investigation on canola imports from canada. other countermeasures include launching an "anti-discrimination investigation" on relevant restrictive measures taken by canada; launching an anti-dumping investigation on relevant canadian chemical products based on applications from domestic industries; and bringing canada's relevant practices to the wto dispute settlement mechanism.

it is worth noting that after china's countermeasures, canada even escalated its measures and announced on september 10 that it would launch a 30-day public consultation period on potential measures to impose tariffs on batteries and battery components, semiconductors, key minerals, metals and solar products imported from china.

on september 6, a spokesperson for china's ministry of commerce stated that china has requested consultations with canada at the world trade organization regarding canada's additional tax measures on electric vehicles and steel and aluminum products.

the spokesperson pointed out that canada has disregarded wto rules and violated its commitments in the wto by imposing additional tariffs of 100% and 25% on chinese electric vehicles and steel and aluminum products, respectively. this is a typical unilateralism and trade protectionism practice, which seriously damages the rules-based multilateral trading system and disrupts the global electric vehicle, steel and aluminum industry chain supply chain. china firmly opposes this. china is a staunch supporter and important contributor to the multilateral trading system. we urge canada to abide by wto rules and immediately correct its wrong practices.

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