BEIJING, Sept 7: China's commerce ministry said on Friday Beijing had referred Canada to the World Trade Organization (WTO) over Ottawa's new restrictions on imports of Chinese electric vehicles, steel and aluminium.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced tariffs last month of 100 percent on Chinese EVs and 25 percent on Chinese steel and aluminium products, accusing Beijing of "not playing by the same rules as other countries" in areas such as environmental and labour standards.
China slammed the moves as unfair and unveiled anti-dumping investigations this week into imported Canadian canola and chemical products in apparent retaliation.
And on Friday, Beijing's commerce ministry said it had "made a request for consultations with the Canadian side at the WTO" regarding Ottawa's additional tariff measures.
"Canada has ignored WTO rules and violated its commitments at the WTO," a ministry spokesperson said in an online statement.
"(This) is a classic unilateral and trade protectionist act that seriously damages the rules-based multilateral trading system and disrupts global industrial and supply chains for EVs as well as steel and aluminium products," it said.
"China fully opposes this... We urge Canada to abide by WTO rules and immediately correct its erroneous practices."
Ottawa's surtax on Chinese electric and some hybrid passenger cars, trucks, buses and delivery vans will come into force from October 1 and will be collected on top of existing import duties of 6.1 percent.
Its steel and aluminium surtax will be effective from October 15.
Beijing's commerce ministry said on Tuesday it would launch an anti-dumping probe into canola imports from Canada on the basis that China's domestic industry was suffering losses owing to "unfair competition".
Canada is among the world's top producers of canola -- an oilseed crop that is used to make cooking oil, animal feed and biodiesel fuel -- and China has been one of its largest customers.
Another Chinese probe will target "relevant Canadian chemical products, based on applications by domestic industries", the commerce ministry said.
Trade disputes have proliferated between China and Western countries in recent months.
The United States and the European Union have respectively slapped tariffs of 100 percent and 36 percent on Chinese EVs, arguing that Beijing unfairly subsidises domestic producers whose products then flood foreign markets and undercut local competitors. China has denied the allegations and announced a suite of investigations of its own.
Beijing said last month it had appealed to the WTO's dispute settlement mechanism over the EU's tariffs on its imported EVs. —AFP
