April 29, 2023
By Doina Chiacu
Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau speaks during Question Period in the House of Commons on Parliament Hill in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada April 26, 2023. REUTERS/Blair Gable/File Photo
WASHINGTON, April 28 (Reuters) - Canadian Prime Minister Justin
Trudeau on Friday linked the production of lithium in China to "slave
labor" as he discussed his own country's efforts to ramp up production of
the metal used in electric vehicle and other batteries.
Canada has significant sources of
lithium, Trudeau said, but China has made strategic choices over the decades
that have made it by far the world's largest producer.
"If we're honest ... the
lithium produced in Canada is going to be more expensive. Because we don't use
slave labor," Trudeau said in remarks at the Council on Foreign Relations
in New York.
"Because we put forward
environmental responsibility as something we actually expect to be abided by.
Because we count on working with, in partnership, with Indigenous peoples,
paying their living wages, expecting security and safety standards."
A representative for the Chinese
Embassy in Ottawa did not respond to a request for comment.
Canada last year announced a
tougher policy on critical mineral investment - particularly from China - as it
worked to shore up its domestic supply after the global pandemic exposed supply
chain problems.
"If the pandemic
taught us anything, if the pandemic taught us anything, it's resilience,
redundancy and reliability in our supply chains," Trudeau said.
The United States
has alleged use of
forced labor by China in sectors including mining and
construction. Last year, a U.S. law took effect banning imports from
China's Xinjiang region over concerns about forced labor.
In December, the
United Auto Workers union called on automakers to
shift their entire supply chain out of Xinjiang after a report by Britain's
Sheffield Hallam University suggested that nearly every major automaker has
significant exposure to products made with forced labor.
China denies abuses in
Xinjiang, a major cotton producer that also supplies much of the world's
materials for solar panels.
Chinese firms also
own, operate or finance most of the Democratic Republic of Congo's cobalt
mines, the U.S. Labor Department said in a recent report.
"Our research shows that lithium-ion batteries are produced with an input
- cobalt - made by child labor," it said.
Diplomatic tensions
between Canada and China have been running high since the detention of Huawei
Technologies executive Meng Wanzhou in 2018 and Beijing's subsequent arrest of
two Canadians on spying charges.
In November,
Canada ordered three Chinese
companies to divest from Canadian critical minerals, citing national security.
China in response accused Ottawa of using national security as a pretext and
said the divestment order broke international commerce and market rules.
Reporting by Doina
Chiacu; Editing by Bill Berkrot
https://www.reuters.com/world/canadas-trudeau-suggests-china-uses-slave-labor-lithium-production-2023-04-28/
If there is no technology to handle damaged batteries, it
will cause pollution to environment, poisoning, cancer....
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