Doug Ford and Mark Carney make peace after changes to Chinese EV tariff

“We’re in a very challenging time right now across the country, especially with what we’re facing with south of the border,” Ford said, as he welcomed federal backing for the auto business.

With the premier hopeful Ottawa will make concessions to boost the domestic industry, including removing the mandate that 60 per cent of all new vehicles sold by 2030 be electric, rising to 100 per cent by 2035, Joly left that door open.

“Obviously we understand the pain that the autoworkers are going through as … the auto industry is facing real threats from U.S. tariffs,” the federal minister told reporters after their one-hour meeting.

“How do EV mandates come into it is actually the conversation we’re having and so we’ll have more to say in the coming weeks,” she said.

“We can’t just have an auto strategy in a bubble in Ottawa. We need to work with the premier. We need to work with everyone to roll out the strategy and basically have their input.”

Last September, Carney paused the Trudeau-era requirement for 20 per cent of vehicles sold in Canada in 2026 to be electric and his government is now considering next steps.

Sources told the Star that changes to the EV mandate are looming.

The afternoon meeting came after a fence-mending lunch at Pizza Nova in Etobicoke between the premier and the prime minister.

Ford, who settled for a veggie piece because he doesn’t eat red meat, bought Carney a slice of Hawaiian with a $50 bill, joking, “I know you will probably get me on taxes, so I’ll pay for this.”

After reaching for his own wallet, the appreciative prime minister laughed and said he “ordered the ham and pineapple. It was very exotic when I was growing up.”

Carney then assured Ford he would cover the bill for their next meal.

 “Well, we’re not going to Pizza Nova if he’s buying, we’re going somewhere expensive,” chortled the premier.

Monday’s convivial confab came after Ford had complained last week that Carney blindsided Ontario when he slashed tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles earlier this month during a trade mission to Beijing.

Under the agreement, Canada will allow up to 49,000 Chinese EVs with a tariff of 6.1 per cent — down from the previous 100 per cent tariff set by former prime minister Justin Trudeau in 2024 — in exchange for China reducing counter-tariffs on Canadian canola and seafood.

Ford had expressed outrage, worrying the deal would hurt Ontario’s automotive industry and warning that Carney had made “a terrible, terrible, miscalculated decision” so Canadians should boycott the Chinese EVs when they arrive.

But when a wire-service pool reporter at the pizzeria photo op asked, “Did you guys make up?” the premier played down the rift.

“Listen, guys, we’re a big family and sometimes brothers and sisters may disagree,” said Ford.

“But at the end of the day, make no mistake about it, we are one country, we’re Team Canada, both of us,” he said, adding “we agree on 99 per cent of the stuff as we move forward.”

“I won’t speak for all the premiers, but I’m pretty sure they’re all on the same page.”

Carney, noting he will be gathering the premiers for a first ministers’ meeting Thursday in Ottawa, concurred.

“Yeah, 100 per cent absolutely agree with the premier. (There) must have been five things, five big topics, that we worked through and in the course of 45 minutes, we worked up an appetite,” the prime minister said of their bilateral meeting.

“We’re going to work on moving those forward and we’re going see each other in two days, right.”

Against the backdrop of U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariffs on many Canadian goods, the leaders discussed the automotive business, critical minerals and energy.

The pizza summit was held around the corner from Ford’s home, where he and Carney met privately before their lunch break. It’s at least the fourth time the prime minister has visited the premier’s house.

Last summer, he bunked overnight at Ford’s Muskoka cottage before the first ministers’ meeting in Huntsville.