Doug Ford says he's '100% dead against' lifting Canadian tariffs on Chinese EVs

That’s because the prime minister — who has brought Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe with him on the trade mission — hopes that, in exchange, China will remove its punitive counter-tariffs on Canadian canola and seafood.

But Ford, who is a close political ally of Carney, said Tuesday he was “absolutely 100 per cent dead against” lifting the Canadian levies on Chinese EVs.

“I’m very concerned and so are my friends in Michigan concerned,” the premier said at Queen’s Park after a meeting with Republican and Democratic state representatives from Michigan.

“When you have the Chinese government wanting to dump cheap Chinese parts and cheap vehicles here, it costs Canadian and American jobs,” said Ford.

“I have not talked to the prime minister. I will speak to him and tell him our concerns,” he said.

“This is nothing against the folks in the canola business or soybean — we have a thriving soybean business here, too — so it’s not about them. I fully understand why Premier Moe is concerned, but he’s protecting Saskatchewan.”

Ford stressed his interest was “protecting Ontario, the 500,000 jobs in the auto sector.”

The talks between Ottawa and Beijing are considered politically sensitive because they come against the backdrop of forthcoming talks to renegotiate the Canada-U.S.-Mexico free trade agreement (CUSMA) later this year.

Former prime minister Justin Trudeau slapped the tariffs on Chinese EVs after then-U.S. president Joe Biden imposed them in fall 2024 due to concerns China would flood North America with artificially cheap vehicles that would hurt domestic manufacturers. Canada also matched the U.S. with 25 per cent tariffs on Chinese steel and aluminum.

Beijing countered with reciprocal levies on Canadian canola oil and seafood, which have hurt Saskatchewan and Atlantic Canada.

With U.S. President Donald Trump in a trade war against Canada, with levies on Canadian auto parts steel, aluminum and softwood lumber, Carney is scrambling to boost business with other trading partners.

But Brian Kingston, head of the Canadian Vehicle Manufacturers’ Association, warned dropping tariffs on Chinese EVs would be “dangerous” and might trigger a backlash from Trump.

“There is no fair competition with the Chinese automotive industry. They massively subsidized this sector and they are now dumping vehicles around the world. Europe was soft on China. Look at what the outcome has been: 90,000 auto jobs lost last year because they’ve allowed dumped Chinese vehicles into their market,” said Kingston.

Flavio Volpe, head of the Automotive Parts Manufacturers’ Association, said talks with the Chinese must be handled with “extreme caution.”

“Should Canada do its best to move tariffs on agricultural goods? Yes. But we need to be careful about how we invite people in, and any time we invite anybody to assemble here, they absolutely need to try to meet the highest local content standard that we have,” said Volpe.

Michigan state representative Matthew Bierlein, a Republican, said the issue was being closely watched in the state at a time of strained relations between Canada and the U.S.

“We came here to reassure the Ontario government that Michigan is a friend and a partner and we’re going to continue to promote that trade back and forth,” said Bierlein.

“We tend to not get involved in national politics at the state level, and certainly don’t speak for the president, but Michigan is a friend to Ontario, and plans to always be a friend to Ontario.”

Janice Stein, Belzberg Professor of Conflict Management and the founding director of the Munk School of Global Affairs at the University of Toronto, said how Carney handles the EV issue will be noticed in Washington.

“Of course, the president of the United States is going to pay attention and for Trump, it’s not only a trade issue, but it’s a security issue,” said Stein, noting many members of the U.S. Senate “feel very strongly that allowing Chinese vehicles into North America is in fact enabling reporting of driver data, personal data that will be transmitted back to Beijing.”

Because of that, she said Carney has “very little room to manoeuvre but could send a signal nonetheless on tariffs” to China.

“What does a one per cent reduction in tariff mean? A two per cent reduction? Clearly that would not flood the Canadian market and it’s a signal to China that we are moving into a new era and we are trying to reset our relationship.”