China Extends Tariff Relief on Canadian Canola Meal, Peas, Lobster and Crab to 2028

Canadian canola meal, peas, lobster and crab will keep their tariff relief in China for two more years. Ottawa announced Wednesday that Beijing has agreed to extend the arrangement, which was due to run out at the end of December, until the end of 2028.

International Trade Minister Maninder Sidhu made the announcement from Beijing. He had co-led a meeting of the Canada-China Joint Economic and Trade Commission with China's commerce minister, Wang Wentao. According to Global Affairs Canada, it was the first time the commission has met at the ministerial level.

What the extension covers

The relief suspends 100-per-cent levies on peas and canola meal and 25-per-cent levies on lobster and crab, The Globe and Mail reported. Sidhu's office said shipments of those products to China reached $1-billion in the first eight months of this year.

The tariffs date back to March 2025, when Beijing imposed them after Ottawa put tariffs on Chinese steel, aluminum and electric vehicles. The pause came out of Prime Minister Mark Carney's January trip to Beijing and took effect in March. On that trip, Carney also got China to cut tariffs on canola seed from 100 per cent to about 15 per cent for five years. In exchange, Canada agreed to let in up to 49,000 Chinese electric vehicles a year at a 6.1 per cent tariff.

"This extension gives farmers, producers and harvesters predictable access to the Chinese market, and it's how we will grow our exports to China by 50 per cent by 2030," Sidhu said in a statement. The government says the sectors covered by the arrangement sustain more than 600,000 jobs in Canada.

What Canada gives in return

Ottawa will extend, also to the end of 2028, its tariff remission for certain Chinese steel and aluminum products not made in Canada.

That part of the deal could matter in Washington. Vina Nadjibulla, chief executive of the Centre for Strategic Statecraft, told The Globe that the steel and aluminum concessions will be a complicating factor in Canada's trade talks with the United States, since the Trump administration has pressed Canada to align its tariffs with steep U.S. levies on China. "Ottawa is increasingly having to navigate its economic relationships with Beijing and Washington simultaneously," she said.

Farmers relieved, but not every tariff is gone

In Saskatchewan, trade minister Warren Kaeding said the extension will help producers plan for next spring. "They are certainly very pleased with the idea that they at least have a two-year extension," he told CBC News.

Bill Prybylski, president of the Agriculture Producers Association of Saskatchewan, said China's 100 per cent tariff on canola oil is still a concern. "We'd like to see the tariff removed, but it's workable for now," he said.

Other Canadian exports still face Chinese duties, including 25-per-cent tariffs on pork, shrimp and geoduck clams. Fisheries Minister Joanne Thompson said Canada is still talking with China about seafood that faces tariffs.

What comes next

Finance Minister François-Philippe Champagne and Sidhu will meet Chinese Vice-Premier He Lifeng in Vancouver next week. Carney is also due to meet President Xi Jinping at the APEC summit in Shenzhen this month. A source familiar with the Beijing talks told The Globe that Ottawa hopes to have more trade deals ready to announce when the two leaders meet.

Before the tariffs, lobster, crab, pea and canola meal exports to China were worth about $2-billion in 2024. In 2025, with the tariffs in force, that fell to about $1-billion.