‘A big deal’: Chinese tariffs on pork, canola to put squeeze on Manitoba By: Martin Cash Posted: 5:39 PM CDT Monday, Mar. 10, 2025

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This article was published 10/03/2025 (541 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

There is another theatre for Canada to contend with in the rising global trade war: China.

On March 7, China imposed crushing 100 per cent tariffs on its imports of Canadian canola and peas and 25 per cent on pork, in retaliation to Canada’s recent tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles and steel and aluminum.

The new levies are ironic as Canada’s initial action against Chinese imports was in support of its southern neighbour; Canada now also faces crippling tariffs on its goods from the United States. (The Chinese levies on canola are separate from what that country’s officials have referred to as an anti-dumping investigation on Canadian canola exports.)

In Manitoba, the impact will be “a big deal,” said Cam Dahl, general manager of Manitoba Pork, the industry’s trade association that includes the producers who raise hogs and the processors like HyLife and Maple Leaf Foods. (Maple Leaf’s pork operations, including processing operations in Winnipeg and Brandon, are to be spun off into a new company called Canada Packers later this year.)

Canada exports about $500 million worth of pork products annually to China, including about $130 million worth from Manitoba.

China is Canada’s third largest international market for pork products and fourth largest for Manitoba. Dahl said it will be hard to replace that business because it ships some products, such as pig heads, that will be hard to find alternative markets for.

“It is not even so much the size of the market (that is the problem), we ship things to China that don’t have other markets,” he said. “You can’t just take a container destined to China and ship it to Mexico. It doesn’t work that way.”

An official from Maple Leaf Foods told the Free Press: “At Maple Leaf Foods, we have done extensive scenario analysis to understand the implications of tariffs for our business at large and to develop mitigation strategies to help reduce the potential harmful impacts. Just as we were prepared to manage potential U.S. tariffs, we are now preparing to manage the Chinese government’s just-announced plans for a 25 per cent tariff on pork. One thing is certain, we have a resilient business model and we will lean on our resilience to navigate the shifting playing field by effectively managing our supply chain channels and markets.”

“It is not even so much the size of the market (that is the problem), we ship things to China that don’t have other markets.”–Cam Dahl

The canola tariffs are part of a long-running diplomatic feud between China and Canada that has caught the nation’s profitable canola industry in the cross-fire.

“New tariffs from China on Canadian canola oil and meal will have a devastating impact on canola farmers and the broader value chain at a time of increased trade and geopolitical uncertainty,” said Chris Davison, president and CEO of Winnipeg-based Canola Council of Canada.

He is urging the federal government to immediately engage with China, “with a view to resolving this issue.”

On March 7, the Canadian government issued a statement saying: “Canada does not accept the premise of China’s investigation, nor its findings. We are deeply disappointed with China’s announced measures.”

In 2024, total canola exports to China were just less than $5 billion, including $918 million of canola meal and $20.6 million of canola oil.

The canola industry also faces U.S. tariffs the Trump administration says will start April 2. Canada exports about $7.7 billion worth of canola products to the U.S.

They are the two largest international markets for Canadian canola.

In an op-ed published by the Free Press before the Chinese tariffs were announced, Dahl wrote the three Prairie provinces should work together on an outreach campaign targeting U.S. states that receive the bulk of Canadian agricultural exports.

“The province should consider leveraging their ‘buy local’ campaign to partner with the other two Prairie provinces to further boost consumer demand here at home.”

In a later interview he said: “As much as we can increase domestic sales (for pork), we are not going to replace the entire U.S. business.”

“New tariffs from China on Canadian canola oil and meal will have a devastating impact on canola farmers and the broader value chain at a time of increased trade and geopolitical uncertainty.” –Chris Davison

Between live animals — Manitoba ships about three million weanlings per year to the U.S. for finishing — and pork products, the U.S. represents about 40 per cent of Manitoba’s sector exports.

HyLife, which operates a processing plant in Neepawa, already does a lot of business in Japan.

Dahl said the industry needs to start looking to open new international markets, for instance, in countries such as Vietnam and South Korea and also to the European market.

martin.cash@freepress.mb.ca