Tag: tariffs

This opinion was written by David Olive and was published in the Toronto Star on October 25, 2025.

The future of vehicle mobil­ity in Canada con­tin­ues to be elec­tric, des­pite the cur­rent slump in the Cana­dian elec­tric vehicle (EV) sec­tor.

The longer that stall­out lasts, the fur­ther Canada will fall behind in redu­cing its green­house gas emis­sions.

EV sales are soar­ing out­side of Canada. Global EV sales jumped by 25 per cent last year, to about 17 mil­lion vehicles, accord­ing to the Paris­based Inter­na­tional Energy Agency (IEA).

The eco­nom­ics of EV own­er­ship are com­pel­ling. Keep­ing an EV on the road can save thou­sands of dol­lars a year in fuel costs for fre­quent drivers.

But after sev­eral years of impress­ive growth, Cana­dian EV sales have fallen to just 7.7 per cent of new vehicle regis­tra­tions in July, down from the 2024 aver­age of 17 per cent.

EVs are still too expens­ive. The aver­age price of a new EV in Canada was $73,000 last year.

Ott­awa, B.C. and Que­bec sus­pen­ded their EV rebate pro­grams early this year, remov­ing a power­ful incent­ive for EV buy­ers. (Que­bec has since restored its rebate sys­tem.)

And there are only 35,000 EV char­ging sta­tions across Canada, far short of the coun­try’s goal of more than 100,000.

With access to the U.S. mar­ket in doubt due to the Trump admin­is­tra­tion’s tar­iffs on Cana­dian auto­mak­ing, sev­eral mult­i­bil­lion­dol­lar Cana­dian vehicle projects, not­ably EV bat­tery plants, have been post­poned.

And this week, Gen­eral Motors said it will dis­con­tinue pro­duc­tion of its Bright­Drop EV deliv­ery van in Inger­soll, Ont., idling Canada’s first full­scale EV man­u­fac­tur­ing plant.

Also this week, U.S. truck maker Pac­car (Peter­bilt, Ken­worth) was repor­ted to be shift­ing pro­duc­tion of vehicles for the U.S. mar­ket from its plant in Sainte­Thérèse, Que., to its U.S. plants ahead of Trump’s tar­iffs on medium­ and heavy­duty trucks that take effect Nov. 1., with a loss of about 300 Que­bec jobs.

And Stel­lantis N.V. (Chrysler, Dodge, Fiat) shocked the Cana­dian auto sec­tor this month in announ­cing the relo­ca­tion of pro­duc­tion of its elec­tric Jeep Com­pass SUV to Illinois from Bramp­ton to get around U.S. tar­iffs on the Cana­dian auto industry.

Amid the gloom, however, Volk­swa­gen AG remains on track to begin pro­duc­tion in 2027 at the $7bil­lion bat­tery plant it is build­ing in St. Thomas, Ont.

And NextStar Energy has begun pro­duc­tion of EV bat­tery com­pon­ents at its new plant in Wind­sor, Ont. NextStar, a part­ner­ship of Stel­lantis and South Korea’s LG Energy Solu­tion, expects to employ about 3,000 work­ers at the plant when it is fully oper­a­tional.

The VW and NextStar projects were heav­ily sub­sid­ized by gov­ern­ments.

It is pos­sible to ima­gine a more inde­pend­ent Cana­dian auto sec­tor less sub­ject to the whims of U.S. trade policy and the so­called Big Three auto­makers, GM, Stel­lantis and Ford Motor Co.

The Big Three, which have largely botched the EV trans­ition, have come close to abandon­ing Canada. Their Cana­dian vehicle pro­duc­tion has plunged by about 65 per cent since 2007, des­pite enorm­ous sub­sidies from Cana­dian gov­ern­ments.

Mean­while, Viet­namese homegrown EV man­u­fac­turer Vin­Fast sup­plies its domestic mar­ket and exports its vehicles to Europe, the Middle East and to mar­kets else­where in Asia Pacific.

Indone­sia, Egypt and other coun­tries import Chinese EV com­pon­ents for final assembly domest­ic­ally.

And Tur­key will soon be home to a $1.4­bil­lion EV assembly plant built by BYD, the largest Chinese auto­maker.

Those are options for Canada, which has the tech­no­logy, skilled work­force and man­u­fac­tur­ing infra­struc­ture to launch an EV auto­maker of its own that assembles EVs with impor­ted com­pon­ents.

Even­tu­ally it would expand to design and engin­eer all­Cana­dian vehicles for export to non­U.S. mar­kets, as Vin­Fast does. The branch plants of Canada’s for­eign­owned auto­makers export only to a U.S. mar­ket at risk of being closed to them.

The domestic mar­ket of almost 1.9 mil­lion vehicles bought in Canada in 2024 would sup­port a new Cana­dian auto­maker with ini­tial capa­city of 125,000 to 200,000 units.

And Ott­awa could lift or reduce its 100 per cent tar­iff on impor­ted Chinese vehicles in return for a Chinese com­mit­ment to build cars in Canada, as Toyota and Honda have long done.

China has said it will lift its pun­ish­ing counter­tar­iffs on Cana­dian can­ola, sea­food and pork in that event.

The same invit­a­tion could be exten­ded to other auto­makers, such as South Korea’s Hyundai Motor and its Kia sub­si­di­ary, on the prin­ciple that if you sell cars in Canada you make cars here.

Kick­ing the Cana­dian EV sec­tor into higher gear also requires an accel­er­ated rol­lout of char­ging sta­tions.

And while EV prices will come down with fur­ther tech­no­lo­gical advances — BYD’s entry­level Seagull retails for about $13,600 in China — rebates are still essen­tial.

They could be refor­mu­lated as a blend of cash and tax breaks that are less fisc­ally oner­ous.

With pas­sen­ger vehicles alone account­ing for about 12 per cent of Canada’s total green­house gas emis­sions, the cur­rent limbo for the Cana­dian EV industry can’t last.

The cleaner air, reduced noise pol­lu­tion, lower oper­at­ing costs and smal­ler car­bon foot­print that come with EVs will pre­vail.

It is pos­sible to ima­gine a more inde­pend­ent Cana­dian auto sec­tor less sub­ject to the whims of U.S. trade policy and the so­called Big Three auto­makers, GM, Stel­lantis and Ford Motor Co.

This article was written by Kate Helmore and was published in the Globe & Mail on October 16, 2025.

Kinew wants an end to duties Beijing levied against canola and pork, as China is a top export market for both

Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew is calling on Ottawa to prioritize agriculture in Western Canada and keep the country united as Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand heads to China to tackle the trade war.

Mr. Kinew wants an end to the 78.5-percent tariffs Beijing levied against canola in August and the 25-per-cent levies on pork, launched in March. Around $3.6-billion worth of Manitoba pork and canola was sold last year, and China is a top export market for both industries.

On Friday, Chinese Ambassador Wang Di said Beijing was prepared to drop its agricultural tariffs if Ottawa removes its 100-per-cent levies on Chinese-made electric vehicles, a policy that came into effect in October, 2024, and one which sparked Beijing’s reciprocal tariffs on agricultural goods.

“We need to have a strong Team Canada approach,” Mr. Kinew said. “Which means taking action to protect the auto industry and protecting Western Canada’s agricultural industry as well.”

Mr. Kinew’s calls to reconsider the EV tariff were echoed by Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe, who said on LinkedIn that China is sending a “clear signal” and Ottawa should “get this deal done.”

But Ottawa is torn between provinces as other premiers also fight to protect their own economies and workers.

Ottawa’s tariffs on Chinese EVs last year was implemented after the U.S. took the same steps. The move was intended to protect a North America-wide auto manufacturing industry.

Conceding to Chinese demands might ignite retaliation from U.S. President Donald Trump, and could result in tariffs on Ontario’s auto manufacturing sector.

The industry has faced the threat of tariffs from their largest market – the U.S. – since February, and it has come at a steep cost. Stellantis on Tuesday said it would be moving its production of the Jeep Compass from Brampton, Ont., to Illinois. The plant had stood idle since 2023. Work on retooling for new vehicles paused in February after Mr. Trump announced tariffs on Canadian auto imports.

“There’s no damn way we should drop tariffs on China,” Ontario Premier Doug Ford said during an event at the Empire Club of Canada on Tuesday night, noting that Ontario auto manufacturing employs 157,000 people.

During a news conference on Tuesday, B.C. Premier David Eby also said his province has major concerns about U.S. tariffs and duties on softwood lumber. “We have to be way more aggressive to make sure that we get our message heard,” he said.

Mr. Kinew recognized the real concerns from the auto manufacturing sector, but said Western Canada’s agricultural industry has for too long taken a back seat to demands from other parts of the country.

“Something concrete coming out of the visit to China would be a welcome sign that the agricultural industry is factoring into federal decision making,” he said. “And we’re not just on the periphery of an all-consuming focus on the auto industry.”

Federal financial aid for farmers is also needed, Mr. Kinew said, adding that one Manitoba pork processor is on track to lose $19-million annually owing to Chinese tariffs. He’d also like to see immigration policy make more room for agriculture – a sector facing labour shortages.

Early September, Ottawa announced a temporary increase to interest-free loans available to farmers, in addition to some biofuel production incentives and amendments to the Clean Fuel Regulations to support domestic demand for the canola used in renewable fuel production.

Industry associations representing canola farmers and processors slammed the measures, saying they fell woefully short of the supports needed to tackle the trade disruption.

“I want to work with the federal government in figuring out how we can bring relief to our farmers and our manufacturers in a way that also helps Ontario,” Mr. Kinew said. “So lets get to it.”

On Friday, Chinese Ambassador Wang Di said Beijing was prepared to drop its agricultural tariffs if Ottawa removes its 100-per-cent levies on Chinese-made electric vehicles, a policy that came into effect in October, 2024, and one which sparked Beijing’s reciprocal tariffs on agricultural goods.

This article was written by Jeffrey Jones and was published in the Globe & Mail on October 15, 2025.

Players in Canadian industry still envision a complete domestic electric-vehicle supply chain, from mining to manufacturing, though it’s become more difficult amid the strained trade relationship with the United States and murky policies toward the sector at home.

The Canadian EV industry has been battered this year by the termination of failed battery manufacturer Northvolt’s Quebec manufacturing plant, U.S. President Donald Trump’s imposition of tariffs on Canada’s auto sector and threats to stop imports, and the expiry of federal incentives for EV buyers.

However, it remains clear that the costs of EVs are falling as technology improves, and that their worldwide share of the market will keep expanding, displacing internal combustion engines, said Bentley Allan, vice-president of future economy at the Canadian non-profit Transition Accelerator.

Canada has the critical minerals, precision manufacturing expertise and assembly capacity to be a key player as trade relationships shift, said Mr. Allan, who is also an associate professor of political science at Johns Hopkins University.

Some countries outside the U.S., such as Indonesia, Egypt and Ethiopia, import Chinese EVs and conduct final assembly domestically because of the economic advantages, such as reducing oil and gasoline imports, rather than climate aims, he said.

This shows opportunity for Canada as Ottawa prepares a climate competitiveness strategy that includes developing the EV battery industry.

“There are also just these underlying thermodynamic advantages to electric vehicles, which are going to continue to drive the market globally,” Mr. Allan said. “So this is going to be a market that we can export into, that we can continue to be competitive in and that we do really have strengths in. Every other country in the world would love to have our critical minerals base, our midstream chemicals expertise.”

Thorny trade disputes dog the industry, however. Canada has maintained a 100-per-cent tariff on Chinese EVs, which sell for prices that would undercut models available domestically. China retaliated by imposing a 100-percent tariff on Canadian canola oil and 75.8-per-cent duty on canola seed, making the country’s agricultural sector a victim of the dispute.

Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe and Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew, whose provinces are major canola producers, have called for Prime Minister Mark Carney to scrap the EV tariff.

Mr. Allan said canola is a fungible commodity that can be sold to numerous markets, but added that Canada needs a more sophisticated response to the issue and should consider reducing its Chinese EV tariffs.

However, an industry association made up of manufacturers, parts suppliers, miners and others seeking to weave together the EV supply chain said Canada will eventually have to open its market to competition, but should maintain the import duty while the homegrown industry solidifies its footing.

Andrew McKinnon, director of policy at the industry association, known as Accelerate, said the key to a Canadian supply chain is diversifying the customer base, especially as the dominant force in the sector, China, imposes its own export restrictions on materials used to make auto components.

“If we are able to get these projects online and get minerals out of the ground and start to process them, this will make us more essential in the North American sphere. But it also opens up doors to have trading relationships in Europe and elsewhere we maybe weren’t doing before,” he said.

China last week dramatically expanded export controls on rare-earth minerals. In retaliation, Mr. Trump threatened to impose an additional 100-per-cent tariff on Chinese goods.

“That has a huge impact on not just supply chains that go into automotive, but everything else high-tech,” Mr. McKinnon said. “What we know from the battery materials producers here and innovators – and Canada has a lot of knowledge in this area – is that we can compete operationally.”

Meanwhile, Accelerate released the results of an Environics survey that showed a majority of Canadians see the value in developing an EV supply chain, but most do not see one developing. The survey of 2,039 people across the country, conducted in May, revealed at least two-thirds of respondents support the seven main components of the industry.

This includes 78 per cent in favour of critical-mineral mining, 77 per cent in favour of criticalmineral processing, 75 per cent in favour of EV component manufacturing, 73 per cent in favour of charging equipment and software, 69 per cent in favour of EV production, 70 per cent in favour of battery manufacturing and 66 per cent in favour of battery material production.

However, the results show polarization. Environics noted that, among Conservative voters, for instance, support is highest for critical-mineral mining and lowest for specific EV-linked industries.

Meanwhile, respondents cited the following as the top barriers to building an EV supply chain: uncertainty of the current global economic situation, extensive taxpayer funding required, regulations and bureaucratic red tape, and the length of time it takes from from project announcement to startup.

Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe and Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew, whose provinces are major canola producers, have called for Prime Minister Mark Carney to scrap the EV tariff.

Remov­ing 100% levy would pose `exist­en­tial threat,’ says group rep­res­ent­ing Big Three firms in Canada

This article was written by Josh Rubin and was published in the Toronto Star on September 11, 2025.

Remov­ing 100% levy would pose `exist­en­tial threat,’ says group rep­res­ent­ing Big Three firms in CanadaSaveListenSharePrintMore

As the fed­eral gov­ern­ment reviews Canada’s 100 per cent tar­iff on Chinese elec­tric vehicles, industry insiders warn that ditch­ing it entirely would be “an exist­en­tial threat” to the Cana­dian auto­mot­ive industry.

The tar­iff, which came into place almost a year ago, faces an auto­matic review, with res­ults due by Oct. 1. Get­ting rid of it would prompt harsh retali­ation from the U.S., and be the death knell for auto­mot­ive pro­duc­tion here, said the head of the asso­ci­ation rep­res­ent­ing Detroit’s Big Three auto­makers in Canada.

“There is simply no option but to main­tain that tar­iff,” said Brian King­ston, CEO of the Cana­dian Vehicle Man­u­fac­tur­ers’ Asso­ci­ation. “Get­ting rid of it would be an exist­en­tial threat to the industry and all you need to do is look at other coun­tries that have been asleep at the switch on this one.”

The review comes as the fed­eral gov­ern­ment attempts to broaden Canada’s trade rela­tion­ship with China amidst a trade war sparked by tar­iffs from U.S. Pres­id­ent Don­ald Trump. In the wake of Canada’s EV tar­iff, China retali­ated with a 100 per cent levy on Cana­dian can­ola.

King­ston poin­ted to sales fig­ures that show a rapid growth in sales of Chinese­pro­duced cars in other coun­tries, includ­ing Mex­ico. In 2020, King­ston said, just four per cent of cars sold in Mex­ico were pro­duced in China. Now, roughly a third of new cars sold in Mex­ico are made in China.

“That’s what hap­pens if you open the door and we simply can­not take that risk,” said King­ston.

On Wed­nes­day, Mex­ico announced it was rais­ing tar­iffs on cars impor­ted from China to 50 per cent from 20 per cent.

The head of Canada’s Auto­mot­ive Parts Man­u­fac­tur­ers Asso­ci­ation (APMA) said let­ting cheaper Chinese EVs such as BYD or XPeng into Canada would ham­mer sales of North Amer­ican, European and Japan­ese cars here, and also poten­tially kill off a prom­ising Cana­dian EV industry.

“We know about the Chinese when they enter the mar­ket,” said APMA CEO Fla­vio Volpe. “They eat up mar­ket share res­ult­ing in lower volumes for mar­ket­driven play­ers. And lower volumes mean fewer

cars which means fewer jobs. The only ques­tion is the rate at which they gobble up the mar­ket share.”

And the Chinese auto man­u­fac­tur­ers are any­thing but mar­ket driven, Volpe argued, say­ing the Chinese cars are being sold well below their man­u­fac­tur­ing cost.

“When they’re going to sell you a $13,000 vehicle, do you think it costs $13,000 to make it or do you think it costs $20,000 to make it?” said Volpe.

“There’s Chinese over­sup­ply and they’re dump­ing product around the world.”

Volpe added that Chinese auto­makers don’t source any of their mater­i­als or parts in Canada.

“There isn’t any­body who’s in raw mater­i­als, parts, sales and after­ser­vice or assembly who thinks it’s a good idea to give away the mar­ket to cent­rally planned, overly sub­sid­ized com­pet­it­ors,” said Volpe.

The head of the trade asso­ci­ation rep­res­ent­ing steel makers in Canada said any­thing that hurts auto man­u­fac­tur­ing in North Amer­ica also hurts the Cana­dian steel industry.

“The North Amer­ican auto sec­tor has always been a sig­ni­fic­ant cus­tomer of the Cana­dian steel industry,” said Cath­er­ine Cob­den, CEO of the Cana­dian Steel Pro­du­cers Asso­ci­ation.

Chan­ging or drop­ping the tar­iffs on Chinese EVs — and on Chinese steel — would be a mis­take, Cob­den said.

“It would be a back­wards step, given that there was a strong rationale to put them in place a year ago. And frankly, noth­ing has changed since then,” Cob­den said.

Also Wed­nes­day, a fed­eral gov­ern­ment offi­cial called the review of the tar­iffs “routine,” and said the gov­ern­ment would pro­tect Cana­dian jobs and the man­u­fac­tur­ing sec­tor.

“The gov­ern­ment com­mit­ted to review these sur­taxes within one year. This is a routine assess­ment, as with any sur­tax or reg­u­lat­ory meas­ure, to ensure policies remain appro­pri­ate. Canada will always defend Cana­dian work­ers, sup­port our man­u­fac­tur­ing sec­tor, and strengthen our trade rela­tion­ships,” the offi­cial said.

On Tues­day, fed­eral Agri­cul­ture Min­is­ter Heath Mac­Don­ald said that redu­cing the tar­iff on Chinese EVs is “cer­tainly something that we’re look­ing at” but cau­tioned that other trade con­cerns are being kept in mind. Mac­Don­ald didn’t spe­cific­ally men­tion the U.S., which is also a big importer of Cana­dian can­ola and was the first to slap a tar­iff on Chinese EVs.

“Every decision that we make as a fed­eral gov­ern­ment, we want to ensure that we’re not jeop­ard­iz­ing a situ­ation that could be ever broader,” Mac­Don­ald told report­ers at the end of a meet­ing with his pro­vin­cial and ter­rit­orial coun­ter­parts.

The APMA’s Volpe sug­ges­ted that the Chinese gov­ern­ment delib­er­ately tar­geted the can­ola industry as a way of put­ting a wedge between Cana­dian regions, pit­ting the Saskat­chewan­based industry against the Ontario­dom­in­ated auto sec­tor.

“China has been try­ing to stick a wedge between us, and they’ve found where to put the wedge,” said Volpe.

The head of Canada’s largest private sec­tor union said get­ting rid of the tar­iff on Chinese elec­tric vehicles would hurt Cana­dian work­ers and the eco­nomy.

“Remov­ing the tar­iff guard­rails that are keep­ing unfair Chinese EV imports from flood­ing our home mar­ket would be the worst thing our gov­ern­ment can do,” said Uni­for national pres­id­ent Lana Payne. “Canada can­not become a dump­ing ground for Chinese vehicles. Rather, we need Prime Min­is­ter Car­ney to incentiv­ize the sale of Cana­dian­built EVs, pro­tect sup­ply chain invest­ments, and build the clean car infra­struc­ture Canada needs.”