Prime Minister Mark Carney says he has reached a deal with China to allow tens of thousands of Chinese electric vehicles into the country in exchange for lower canola duties.

He billed his first such trade deal since taking office as a preliminary one that would boost the economy.

Carney says Ottawa expects Beijing to drop canola seed duties to 15 per cent by March.

Canadian canola meal, lobsters, crabs and peas will no longer be subject to Chinese tariffs from March to at least the end of the year.

In return, Canada will allow up to 49,000 Chinese electric vehicles into the Canadian market at a 6.1 per cent tariff rate.

The pact comes just hours after Carney met with President Xi Jinping on a trip to Beijing, ending a multi-year trade dispute that began when the last Liberal government levied EV tariffs to protect Canada’s auto sector.

  • SamuelRJankis@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
    17·
    2 days ago

    Canada will allow up to 49,000 Chinese

    In case people want to know want to know what the numbers means. There was 202k battery EV’s registered in 2024 and 82k through 3 reported quarters in 2025.

    Imagine this just gets the ball rolling and there will be a more substantial deal before we hit that number. As of now I don’t like the lack of progress security(this extends outside of EV’s or ones from China) and how we didn’t leverage this into any manufacturing deals.

    StatCan Source (first time I’ve seen them use PoweBI):

    https://tdih-cdit.tc.canada.ca/en/search/20100024

      • SamuelRJankis@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
        5·
        2 days ago

        There’s been a lot of noise the last few years about there being big demand for these EV’s so we’ll see how true this is. I do have a inclination they’ll do rather well even with the economy and low gas prices.

        • sbv@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
          4·
          2 days ago

          There are headwinds: EV incentives are being removed, electricity prices are climbing, and there’s the cultural antipathy towards climate action from the US.

          Here’s hoping it still works out tho.

        • digitalFatteh@lemmy.caEnglish
          3·
          2 days ago

          I hope so. My province has practically shut down the EV and solar panel incentives and as you say the incoming belt tightening on the economy make this look like it’s getting setup to fail.

    • WizardGed@lemmy.caEnglish
      5·
      2 days ago

      Great to see the real numbers, thank you. I agree with the sentiment about manufacturing. If it were me, I would tie expanded levels to local manufacturing, with more favorable rates for non-luxury vehicles.

    • humanspiral@lemmy.ca
      2·
      2 days ago

      It’s good for increasing overall EVs by increasing charging infrastructure. Will help other EV sales.