'Fix this mess': Doug Ford rips Carney's deal to loosen EV tariffs on China

BEIJING AND OTTAWA — Ontario Premier Doug Ford responded furiously on Friday to a trade deal announced by Prime Minister Mark Carney to allow some Chinese electric vehicles into Canada.

Carney announced the deal in the early hours of Friday morning in Canada, after a meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing, and heralded it as “landmark trade arrangement.”

The trade deal means that China will agree to reduce tariffs on certain Canadian canola imports in exchange for Canada allowing a small but growing number of Chinese electric vehicles to enter its market at a preferential tariff rate. But Ford warned this will bring “a flood of cheap made-in-China electric vehicles without any real guarantee of equal or immediate investments in Canada’s economy, auto sector or supply chain.”

“Worse, by lowering tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles this lopsided deal risks closing the door on Canadian automakers to the American market, our largest export destination, which would hurt our economy and lead to job losses,” wrote Ford, on social media .

Ford issues a series of demands for Carney in response to the deal with China.

“To fix this mess, Prime Minister Carney and the federal government need to urgently step up and support Ontario’s auto sector. That means making the sector more competitive by ending the electric vehicle mandate, harmonizing regulations with key trading partners and scrapping federal fees that do nothing but add thousands to the cost of making vehicles and chase away investments,” Ford wrote on X.

Some trade analysts have warned that a deal with China also risks provoking U.S. President Donald Trump . The U.S. first imposed 100 per cent tariffs on Chinese EVs in a bid to prevent local companies from being undercut by cheaper, heavily state-subsidized autos from China, and Canada quickly followed suit.

More to come.

National Post

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