China’s Retaliatory Tariffs on Key Canadian Agriculture and Aquatic Products

What Small Businesses Need to Know and What Resources are Available for Support

If your business is part of the agriculture or aquatic sectors, here’s what you need to know and where to find help.

In October 2024, Canada introduced a 100% tariff on Chinese-made electric vehicles (EVs) and a 25% tariff on Chinese steel and aluminum.

In response, China imposed retaliatory tariffs that were put into effect on March 20, 2025, that targeted these key Canadian exports:

• 100% tariffs on canola oil, canola meal, and peas
• 25% tariffs on pork and aquatic products, including lobster, crab, and shrimp.

On this page:

1. CFIB’s Advocacy Efforts
2. Resources and Programs to Support You
3. Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

What are CFIB’s Advocacy Efforts?

We’re actively working with governments to minimize the impact of the Chinese tariffs on your agri-business. Our efforts include:

• Collecting feedback from our April 2025 ‘Your Voice’ survey on small business concerns surrounding the Chinese tariffs.
• Raising awareness through a news release to share the impacts of the Chinese tariffs on agri-businesses.
• In March, we sent a letter to Federal Ministers (Agriculture and Agri-Food, Finance, and Internal Trade) pushing for action on the impacts of the Chinese tariffs on agri-businesses in Canada, with the following recommendations:
  • Streamline Business Risk Management (BRM) programs to provide adequate support to agri-businesses in a timely manner without additional red-tape, especially under Agri-Stability, Agri-Invest, and the Advanced Payments Program.
  • Ensure that programs are tailored to the specific needs of small businesses, not just larger enterprises.
  • Increase awareness of the services available, including those offered by the Trade Commissioner Service (TCS) and Export Development Canada (EDC), that help SMEs explore and navigate new markets more effectively.
• In May, we sent a congratulatory letter to the new Federal Minister for Agriculture and Agri-Food. In it, we shared the data from the April 2025 Your Voice survey, that examined the impacts of the Chinese tariffs on small businesses.

Resources and Programs to Support You

We’ve compiled resources and programs that’ll help support you and your business when it comes to the tariffs China imposes on Canadian goods.

• Expansion of the Agri-Stability program.
  • Agri-Stability provides compensation to farmers who have faced a major decline in their production. This is triggered when the production margin in the current year falls below the historical reference margin by more than 30%. The Federal Government announced that it would be expanding the Agri-Stability program to support agri-businesses impacted by Chinese tariffs on agriculture products. The Government increased the compensation rate from 80% to 90% and doubled the current payment cap to $6 million for the 2025 program year.
• The Advance Payments Program (APP) was increased with an interest-free limit to $250,000 for the 2025 program year.
  • The APP is a federal loan guarantee program that provides agricultural producers with easy access to low-cost cash advances.
  • Under the program, farmers can access up to $1,000,000 in total advances based on the value of eligible agricultural products they plan to produce or have in storage through 27 participating producer organizations.
  For the 2025 program year, the Federal Government will pay interest on the first $250,000, on behalf of the producers, instead of the usual 100,000$.
• Farm Credit Canada’s Trade Disruption Customer Support program
  • The Federal Government provided Farm Credit Canada $1 billion in new lending through the Trade Disruption Customer Support program.
  • These are the support details:
    • Defer principal payments for up to 12 months on existing loans (current customers)   
    • Receive access to an additional credit line of up to $500,000, secured by general security agreements or universal movable hypothec (Québec only) 
    • Receive additional support with a term loan
  • Eligibility criteria:
    • For customers and non-customers who meet the necessary lending criteria.
    • Businesses must be financially viable prior to the impact of the tariff.
    • FCC won’t provide funds in the form of grants or other interest-free loans.
• The Government also offers various support programs to help agri-businesses impacted by trade disruptions.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

Your voice matters in shaping Canada’s trade response.