The Chinese government promised a 100 per cent levy on Canadian canola oil and meal, plus a 25 per cent duty on seafood and pork. Those tariffs on Canadian goods imported to China kick in on Thursday.
As the tariffs take effect, Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe called on the federal government to remove its levies on electric vehicles amid fears that his province could face job losses and face the brunt of the blowback.
Moe pointedly called it “a Western Canadian expense at the benefit of a non-existent EV auto industry in Eastern Canada.”
Faced with calls to rethink the tariffs, Ford’s office said the premier continues to back the tax on Chinese-made vehicles.
Oof, this fight was inevitable wasn’t it. I’m not one to take much of what Moe says seriously, but he makes a somewhat legitimate point. We don’t make any significant EVs in Ontario today. If we let BYD in, they won’t compete with Ontario-made EVs. The Ford Mach-e is Mexican. I think the Chevy EVs are made in the US. I think Hyundai/Kia are also imports.
On the other hand they’re likely to compete with gas powered vehicles that we very much make here. Then there’s the battery plants we are trying to build which is a part of future EV manufacturing strategy. Having BYD imports puts all that at risk.
Unless the US kills our auto sector by not carving it out of the incoming tariffs, we probably won’t let Chinese EVs in.
With that said, there’s perhaps an opening for reducing the tariffs so that Chinese EVs are cheaper than Tesla, but don’t threaten much of the gas vehicle production.