BEIJING will impose tariffs on Canadian agricultural and food products in retaliation for Ottawa's levies on Chinese electric vehicles, reports London's Financial Times.

China's commerce ministry said it would impose 100 per cent tariffs on Canadian rapeseed oil and pea imports and a 25 per cent levy on pork and some seafood imports.

The government said it was responding to "discriminatory" tariffs of 100 per cent on electric vehicles and 25 per cent on steel and aluminium that Ottawa announced in August, which followed similar actions by the US.

In response, Beijing filed a complaint with the World Trade Organization and launched an anti-dumping probe into Canadian imports of rapeseed products.