OPINION: Why is Carney making Canadians pay more for Chinese EVs?

(Image courtesy of CBC)

Electric vehicles are the way of the future, and the Canadian government seems to agree. In 2023, the Liberal government under Prime Minister Trudeau released regulations mandating that all passenger cars, SUVs, crossovers, and light trucks sold by 2035 must be zero-emission vehicles or ZEVs. Part of that mandate has been that by 2026, ZEVs must account for at least 20 percent of all new car sales, rising to a minimum of 60 percent by 2030. While the new Liberal Prime Minister, Mark Carney, quietly removed the 20 percent mandate for 2026 and lowered the 2030 mandate from 60 to 50 percent, Canada remains firmly committed to EV adoption, way more than its southern counterpart.

So that begs the question: if the goal of the Canadian government is to get Canadians to gradually buy more EVs to save the environment and do their part in reducing the effects of climate change, why isn’t Canada importing cars from the biggest EV producer of all, China?

China has boosted its EV presence in recent years, making 70 percent of the world’s electric cars, according to a report by Al Jazeera. These cars are also substantially cheaper compared to their American and European equivalents. For instance, a Tesla Model X costs $120,000 CAD. The analogous Chinese model would cost $25,000 CAD. Even if we include shipping costs, it would be significantly cheaper than the Model X or even a Hyundai Kona, Kia Niro, and Volkswagen ID.4.

So, if the Chinese cars are cheaper and the federal government wants more Canadians to drive EVs, doesn't it make the most sense to import Chinese cars over to Canada? It would make it more affordable for Canadians to drive EVs and make it easier for Canada to meet its climate goals, with more widespread adoption of greener alternatives.

But the Canadian government has not opted for that route. Instead, it has chosen a confrontational path towards the Chinese government. On October 1, 2024, Canada announced a 100 percent surtax on all Chinese-made EVs. This made Chinese EVs way more expensive to the Canadian market, and in turn, hurt the average Canadian’s ability to purchase an electric car. And the reason? Geopolitics.

During this time in 2024, Joe Biden was still the US President, and Biden was adopting a more protectionist, anti-China agenda to preserve American hegemony in Asia and elsewhere. Canada, a long-standing US ally and partner, thus agreed to follow suit on many of the American policies, such as the EV tariff.

Now, that isn’t the most effective way to sell a policy to Canadians, so the Canadian government said the purpose was to prevent “dumping” of Chinese goods and to protect the Canadian auto industry. There is just one problem: what Canadian auto industry are they talking about?

Some would refute and say think of those auto jobs in Ontario, the GM, Ford, and Toyota plants that employ thousands of Canadians. But GM, Ford, and Toyota are foreign companies. Canada does not have any major domestic manufacturing for Canadian automobiles.

Try to think of one major Canadian automobile company. You can’t, and it's okay that you can’t, because there is none.

In response to these tariffs, China imposed counter-tariffs on Canadian canola oil, meal, and peas in March 2025. China, due to its large population, has a great demand for canola products, needing to import, as the domestic supply cannot meet demand.

Canada is the world’s leading producer of Canola, ahead of the European Union, China, and India. It also leads the world in Canola exports by a wide margin.

Information courtesy of the US Department of Agriculture.

In short, Canada is imposing EV tariffs on China to protect a domestic auto industry that barely exists and to align with US geopolitical interests, even as the US continues its own trade actions against Canada. The result is higher costs for Canadians who want affordable, high-quality EVs, and new barriers for Canadian farmers trying to sell their products to one of the world’s largest markets: China.

Canada should not be engaging in a tariff-for-tariff battle with China. Not only does this not benefit both countries, but the weaker country, Canada in this case, cannot and will not win against the Chinese. It is the fault of the Trudeau and Carney governments to engage in this policy of offensive destructiveness against potential EV consumers and Canadian farmers. Fundamentally, it is self-imposed pain.

Also, if the goal of these tariffs is to hurt the Chinese economy and prevent their goods from flooding the market, why stop at EVs? In 2023, Canada imported $2 billion worth of cars from China. Why not tariff the whole industry? Canada imports $5.8 billion of telephones and $4.9 billion of computers from China, restricting those imports could do serious economic damage to the Chinese economy and make Canada more “self-sufficient,” in alignment with Carney’s goal of “buying Canadian.” Why not engage in these policies if the goal is to be free from outside influence? Clearly, some exceptions are being made.

Ultimately, if the Canadian government truly cares about saving the climate and views it as an existential crisis that will affect the lives of our children and grandchildren, what is the argument that we shouldn’t import Chinese EVs to ensure mass adoption? Surely, if the stakes are that high, it seems like a necessary compromise to make.

But the federal government, for whatever reason, refuses to, prioritizing economic nationalism over the supposedly existential climate threat it continually warns Canadians about.