Mark Carney brushes off Doug Ford’s anger over China EV tariff cuts

In Doha after his trip to China, where Carney won tariff relief from China on Canada’s canola and seafood exports in exchange for dropping Ottawa’s EV tariffs against China from 100 per cent to 6.1 per cent, Carney was asked to respond to the dismay expressed by Ford and the largest union that represents Canadian autoworkers.

Carney recapped the agreement’s upsides and dismissed the idea there is any downside.

The prime minister said he agreed to allow imports of 49,000 Chinese EVs, the same number Canada imported in 2023 from China, “although at that time there wasn’t a cap. Now there’s a cap.”

Carney’s officials have said the number could grow year over year, depending on whether Chinese automakers agree to invest in Canadian-based production. Carney said the cap could rise to 70,000 by year five, but officials later walked that back, clarifying there is no set escalator clause in the agreement.

Carney said the imports he’s prepared to allow into Canada are just a small fraction of the overall consumer market — “less than three per cent of the 1.8 million vehicle market for cars and trucks in Canada every year.”

The figure reflects current purchasing levels and does not account for a potentially expanded market if lower-priced vehicles spur higher EV adoption.

Unifor National President Lana Payne, in a statement on the deal, said Friday, “Providing a foothold to cheap Chinese EVs, backed by massive state subsidies, overproduction and designed to expand market share through exports, puts Canadian auto jobs at risk while rewarding labour violations and unfair trade practices.”

But Carney said Sunday in Doha that his deal secured a “commitment” that China would both ensure that affordable EVs — priced at less than $35,000 — would make up half of the Chinese imports and that Chinese EV carmakers would invest in auto production in Canada.

Baked into the agreement, he said, is an expectation that “there will be Chinese investment, partnering with Canadian companies in Canada. And of course, an expectation that our labor standards work with that. There is interest of Chinese firms in doing so,” Carney said.

Carney said his agreement “triggered” that interest, and that his government has already had discussions with Chinese car makers that want to produce affordable cars in Canada, will provide “technology and expertise” to help build a more competitive auto market, and finally, he added, the agreement would be subject to a review after three years.

“We’ve had direct conversations directly from the Chinese companies … and collectively are the world’s leaders in this space, with explicit interest and intention to partner with Canadian companies,” said Carney. “We’ll see what comes to pass. This is an opportunity for Ontario. It’s an opportunity for Ontario workers, opportunity for Canada, done in a controlled way, with a modest start.”

Carney said it is a “trial, it is an early stage, and this is the way you bring somebody into the market.”

But Ford on Friday was angered by Carney’s deal — which he said was not discussed with premiers, but Canadian officials indicated was discussed with the Trump administration at some unspecified point during the negotiations with China.

Ford said this is “a terrible, terrible, miscalculated decision” that will damage Ontario’s auto sector.