China said on Tuesday it will impose a 73.5 per cent preliminary tariff on imports of Canadian pea starch from July 1, as part of temporary anti-dumping measures after a more than 10-month investigation.

The Ministry of Commerce said its investigation had found that Canadian pea starch was being “dumped” in China, causing “material injury to the domestic industry.”

The probe was launched last August, on the same day China imposed preliminary anti-dumping duties on Canadian canola, escalating a year-long trade dispute that began after Ottawa levied tariffs on Chinese electric vehicle imports.

Tuesday’s decision shows that trade tensions remain despite an improvement in relations since January, when Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney visited Beijing and reached an initial agreement to sharply lower tariff rates on Canadian canola imports and to suspend duties on some Canadian agricultural products, including a 100 per cent levy on Canadian peas.

“This new tariff proves the Liberals’ trade strategy is a complete disaster,” Conservative critics John Barlow, Stephanie Kusie and Eric Duncan said in a joint statement that took aim at the China deal and accused Carney’s government of letting down farmers.

“As Conservatives warned, there was no guarantee these trade barriers would be permanently, immediately or completely eliminated. While our pea starch processors face more uncertainty, Canadian agricultural and seafood exporters continue to suffer under persistent Chinese trade barriers on pork, canola, peas and seafood this Liberal government left completely unresolved.”

—With files from Global News