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Can anyone elaborate on why Canada has 100% tariffs on EVs? I think I know why the US does: lobbying by American automakers. Did the US threaten Canada unless t
by xrd 1y ago
Can anyone elaborate on why Canada has 100% tariffs on EVs? I think I know why the US does: lobbying by American automakers. Did the US threaten Canada unless they followed suit a long time ago, and is this change a sign that leverage is now lost?
- 1970-01-01 1y agoBecause there are 0 Canadian EV manufacturers. Everything is (was) directly tied to the US strategy.
- infecto 1y agoCanada has something like 500k jobs tied up in the automobile industry. This plays a larger role in the decision than “US strategy” but I am assuming with this stupid trade war it can tip the balance to reducing that tariff.
- cmrdporcupine 1y agoCarney also has to play a balancing act of western vs central Canadian interests. Oil & gas & canola are on the table here, and it's a dangerous situation. If we lean hard into trying to prop up Ontario's auto-sector we cause a serious crisis for prairie canola farmers, etc. Both China and the US know this and are playing cat and mouse with us, fanning tensions, and the US is outright funding western separatists and encouraging grievance politics around their resource exports. The US has aggressively tariffed manufactured goods coming out of central Canada (and forestry out of BC) while leaving potash and oil & gas out of AB/SK untouched while simultaneously outright funding far right groups there that are are agitating against Canadian unity. At the same time China has slapped tariffs on canola and made it clear that EV tariffs are part of the calculus there. I don't see an easy way out of this. As a resident of Ontario I'd be sad to see the auto sector here go, and it would lead to massive economic devastation here ... but it feels entirely inevitable at this point. Not just because of tariffs but because the actual products from the Big3 automakers are increasingly mediocre and what they're producing here is on the whole not fine, sustainable, products anyways. Car parts, and Honda & Toyota plants are another story, maybe.
- ifwinterco 1y agoCanada has a large car industry itself - 100% might be excessive, but every western nation now faces a choice between tariffs on EVs or letting their car industry be completely eviscerated with hundreds of thousands of job losses
- WinstonSmith84 1y agothe third option is to force foreign companies to manufacture locally (which is often the case). It's kind of the best of both worlds.
- cmrdporcupine 1y agoWe don't really have that kind of leverage, and our domestic market isn't large enough to make it compelling.
- tokioyoyo 1y agoTo be fair, BYD has a bus plant in Newmarket.
- cmrdporcupine 1y agoOh, that's interesting, I had no idea. Neat.
- giarc 1y agoThe problem with that is our auto employee salaries would drive the cost of the vehicle up.
- nubinetwork 1y agoWe don't need to force anyone, toyota is happy making cars in Ontario. Kia/Hyundai/Hondas are everywhere on the road, all we needed to do is splash some incentive cash and we could cut out American automakers pretty quickly.
- teunispeters 1y agoPartially competition, as a couple of provinces have large car manufacturing. (Ontario and Quebec, mostly). Partially that there's no repair or maintenance infrastructure, nor guarantee a car will keep functioning if (say) the manufacturer shuts down or a model gets discontinued. As to how much of which, that's a good question, and not one I've seen any answers to.
- diego_moita 1y agoBecause the Canadian auto industry is twin-joined to the American auto industry. A lot of parts that go to the American cars are made in Ontario. Now, since his American majesty decided to throw away the Canadian auto industry we don't have anything to protect. Better to make deals with the Chinese now, before the whole American auto industry is destroyed.
- throwaway106382 1y agoBecause Biden told us to
- deleted 1y ago[deleted]
- throwaway106382 1y ago> Canada announced Monday it is launching a 100% tariff on imports of Chinese-made electric vehicles, matching U.S. tariffs imposed over what Western governments say are China’s subsidies that give its industry an unfair advantage. > The announcement came after encouragement by U.S. national security advisor Jake Sullivan during a meeting with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Cabinet ministers Sunday. - AP News, August 26, 2024 https://apnews.com/article/canada-china-evs-tariffs-0cd68ba7533bc6e7111cdd5811c8889c https://apnews.com/article/canada-china-evs-tariffs-0cd68ba7...
- zukzuk 1y agoThe Canadian and American automotive industry was (until very recently) tightly integrated. 1 in 10 American cars were made in Canada, with parts going back and forth across the border sometimes multiple times in the assembly chain. The automotive sector is also a significant portion of Ontario’s GDP. So a lot of incentive for Canada to side with America on this. But Trump blew up that relationship, and this is the consequence.
- helloooooooo 1y agoYou need to understand: for every tariff the US places on China, the more excess industrial capacity that China needs to direct elsewhere. It goes for steel, autos and more. This means, since America sanctioned Chinese steel, China has been dumping their steel into Canadian markets. With the excess electric car capacity unable to be absorbed by America, China wants to direct it elsewhere. If they start exporting to Canada, this excess capacity will completely destroy automotive manufacturing in Canada, leading to mass layoffs and entire industrial supply chains falling apart. This will inevitably lead to political instability as a large portion of second tier cities in Ontario start having a labour crisis. This is evidently not ideal. I bore witness to manufacturing completely leave my hometown, third tier city over the span of a decade. Today, there is little economic opportunity in that town, with massive drug abuse, and petty crime. It used to be a nice place, and working in a factory earned you an honest living. Unfettered trade with China killed places like this, destroying an entire generation. At the end of the day, wanting electric cars from China depends on your values, do you want incredibly cheap electric vehicles, even if it means destroying an entire industry that the largest province in the country relies upon? Or do you want to maintain a functional manufacturing base that is critical to political and social stability?
- petermcneeley 1y agoThe current Canadian prime minister is Mark Carney. He is an international banker. I think you have your answer. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Carney https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Carney
- tharmas 1y agoand our other choice is PP, who is a career politician, who's achievements are what? I'm not happy about the choices. But c'mon PP?
- petermcneeley 1y agoI wouldnt suggest PP simply because such partisanship is beneath my intellect. The bank of Canada (head) again warned about the lack of productivity of the Canadian worker. I think Canada needs new leadership. Canada has had the same leadership for the last 10 years.
- jt2190 1y agoThe “U.S.” car industry is actually the North American car industry. Factories are in Canada, Mexico and the U.S. primarily and parts move across the border duty-free. This dates back to the Auto-pact. Canada almost certainly does not want to allow Chinese made vehicles to undercut their local producers. Any talk of this is just posturing and threats in the ongoing trade negotiations.
- wmoxam 1y agoTrump says he wants every car sold in the United States to be made domestically. The old integrated cross-border auto manufacturing system is over. Stellantis is already moving production of Jeep from Brampton to Illinois, and others are expected to follow.
- csomar 1y agoIt's a lapdog. You ask it to jump, it jumps. I guess not feeding him does make him rebel though.