China 100% Tariffs Against Canada
March 9, 2025•725 words
The really big problem with China is that there are the unfair trade practices, like currency manipulation, illegal export subsidies and the theft of intellectual property, but then there's also things that the WTO doesn't cover that it should, which is the use of sweat shops and pollution havens. ~ Peter Navarro
Any time you read that your government is erecting tariff barriers, supporting threatened industries with subsidies, or interfering in any way with free trade between individuals or nations, you must realize that your standard of living is being lowered as a result. ~ John Pugsley
In world politics, where nations advance as chess pieces on the move in pursuit of hegemony, the Canadian Liberal government has played its strategic hand. By imposing tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles, steel, and aluminum, it has entered into a game of power, business, and human desire with a great deal of high stakes involved. This action, when read through the lenses of fairness and strategy, speaks more to the behind-the-scenes nature of competition, the quest for gain, and the shaky partnerships that typify international affairs.
Fundamentally, Canada's action is driven by two reasons, both of which are a byproduct of the power game. First is the argument that China subsidizing Chinese industries distorts the level playing field. By providing loans, reducing taxes, and providing incentives through state-owned banks, China has allowed its industries to make goods at artificially subsidized prices. This practice, though being a windfall to Chinese companies, tilts the natural trade equation in international trade. It allows Chinese products to flood the world markets at prices lower than the competition, with a multiplier effect that derails industries across the world. To Canada, this is not only unfair, it is also against the philosophy of free and fair trade.
The second impulse is more Machiavellian in motivation. By harmonizing tariffs with what America had put up during Trump's presidency, Canada is attempting to appease or "brown nose" its powerful southern partner. Actually, Canada is in fact breaking the international rules of trade and allying with a power party in negotiation for a greater war. By mirroring the U.S.'s 20% tariffs on Chinese imports, Canada is sending a message that it is prepared to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with the United States, even if it means taking the risk of triggering China's tariffs. This strategic alignment is not just about trade, it is about positioning, influence, and trying to bring tariff percentage down with United States.
The impact of these subsidies goes much deeper than the economic impact. They reveal the sleazy underbelly of human greed and the lengths to which states will go to secure what they desire. Subsidies, as beneficial as they are to the industries that they benefit, all too often lead to production surges. In steel-type industries, this has meant a flood of inexpensive products onto global markets, driving down prices and forcing manufacturers elsewhere into a squeeze. The financial weight on such manufacturers is a survival struggle in the finite world of resources and power.
Also, subsidies negatively trigger a domino effect in other sectors. While sectors such as steel are subsidized by the state, other sectors such as car manufacturing gain advantage. This depicts the global impact of subsidies, allowing Chinese business to dominate not just one sector, but several. The result is a misallocation of market forces in favor of the subsidized nation to the detriment of the other. Other nations, feeling aggravated at such unequal competition, retaliate with tariffs or anti-dumping duties, increasing tension and increasing inequalities.
Chinese sociopolitical and economic Communist state policies of assistance, in the form of policy interventions and financial aid, has increased the competitiveness of Chinese steel companies. These collective policies are ingrained in the cultural mindset of China. However, state assistance has also triggered overcapacity, injecting cheap steel into world markets and displacing producers elsewhere.
Canada's application of tariffs is not only an effort to rebuff unfair trade, it is an assertion of the timeless struggle for control and advantage. It is a reminder that in the nation-states' world, as in the world of individuals, the pursuit of individual interest is usually at someone else's expense. The Liberal government's move is a gamble, a risk calculated in a game with large stakes and rules always being changed, especially with the Trump administration.