Doug Ford accused China of ‘taking every advantage of cheap labour and dirty energy’
%MCEPASTEBIN% is calling on Ottawa to impose tariffs of at least 100 per cent on Chinese electric vehicles, accusing China “of artificially flooding the market with cheap vehicles.”
Canada already has a six per cent tariff on Chinese EVs, and the federal government has made no indications that it plans to change its policy.
“I’m calling on the federal government to immediately match or exceed U.S. tariffs on Chinese imports, including at least a 100 per cent tariff on Chinese electric vehicles,” Ford said.
He accused China of “taking every advantage of cheap labour and dirty energy,” adding that higher tariffs are urgently needed to protect Ontario’s newly resurgent auto industry.
Both Ontario and the federal government have committed billions of dollars, in direct and indirect support including production tax credits, to attract automakers to build out their electric vehicle supply chains here.
Already, Volkswagen AG, Stellantis NV and Honda Motor Co. have committed to building battery cell manufacturing plants in Ontario while other auto and chemical companies are building assembly plants and midstream battery plants.
At least two industry insiders — who had reviewed proprietary data about brand imports — said that bulk of those Chinese EVs would have been vehicles that Tesla Inc. or Volvo Cars manufactured in China.
But Freeland said Canada already has tools and policies in place to ensure that Canada does not become a backdoor for China to send EVs into the U.S., the end-market for many of the vehicles built in this country.
She added that China “is not playing by the rules” and is producing an oversupply of critical minerals and certain manufactured products as a result of deliberate policies.
Freeland did not say she would raise tariffs on Chinese EVs at that press conference.
But Heymann told the Financial Post on Thursday that his comments were “wildly misinterpreted.”
“All I said was it would be good if the U.S. or Canada harmonize our policies,” Heymann said, “which was interpreted as Canada should do what we do.”
“I don’t take a position, I leave it to each government to make a decision,” he said.
Across Canada, opinions about tariffs are mixed.
Brian Kingston, president of the Canadian Vehicle Manufacturers Association, a lobbying group, said tariffs are one option that the federal government should consider.
Kingston noted that the federal government currently wants all new vehicles sold in Canada to be zero-emission vehicles, and that policy may favour cheaper cars, wherever they’re from.
“Having policies that are disconnected from our industrial policy is what keeps me up at night,” he said. “The ZEV mandate has no regard for where these vehicles are made.”
Pierre Fitzgibbon, Quebec’s minister of the economy, innovation and energy, was vacationing in Italy on Thursday, but said he had heard Premier Ford’s comments.
Fitzgibbon said his province has its own emerging electric vehicle supply chain, with a battery cell manufacturing plant as well as midstream and downstream projects to support it.
“I can understand why (Ford) is concerned about that,” he said, but added that he takes no official position on tariffs.