China Says Canadian Canola Will Face Stricter Assessments

Bottles of Canola Harvest brand canola oil, manufactured by Canadian agribusiness firm Richardson International, are seen on the shelf of a grocery store in Beijing on March 6, 2019. One of Canada's largest grain processors said on March 5 that China has revoked its permit to export canola there, a move that some saw as retaliation for the Canadian government's arrest of a top executive for the Chinese tech giant Huawei. Mark Schiefelbein/AP

BEIJING—Imports of canola, a Canadian oilseed crop, will now undergo more thorough inspections in China, the country’s customs agency said on March 7, amid what appears to be a retaliatory move amid a diplomatic row over the arrest of a Chinese executive.

Relations between Canada and China have been tense since December, when Canada arrested Huawei’s financial chief Meng Wanzhou in Vancouver at the request of U.S. authorities. China warned of “grave consequences” if Canada did not immediately release Meng.