China said on Tuesday it plans to start an anti-dumping investigation into canola imports from Canada, after Ottawa moved to impose tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles, lifting prices of domestic rapeseed oil futures to a one-month peak.

Canada has followed the lead of the United States and European Union, and announced last week a 100 per cent tariff on imports of Chinese electric vehicles and a 25 per cent tariff on imported steel and aluminum from China.

"China strongly deplores and firmly opposes the discriminatory, unilateral, restrictive measures taken by Canada against its imports from China despite the opposition and dissuasion of many parties," a Commerce Ministry spokesperson said in a statement.

The ministry said China will also initiate an anti-dumping investigation into some Canadian chemical products.