Will preferential access for foreign automakers really work? |
A Honda plant in Alliston, Ont., in 2024. The Globe and Mail reported on Saturday that Canada plans to give preferential market access to foreign automakers who commit to producing vehicles in Canada.Nathan Denette/The Canadian Press
Nicolas Lamp is an associate professor at the faculty of law at Queen’s University.
These are head-spinning days for anyone concerned about the future of the Canadian auto industry.
First, there was President Donald Trump touring a Ford auto plant and reiterating his long-held belief that the U.S. doesn’t “need cars made in Canada” and that the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement is “irrelevant.”
A few days later, Prime Minister Mark Carney announced that up to 49,000 Chinese EVs per year will be exempt from the 100-per-cent “surtax” that the Trudeau government implemented in October, 2024, and will instead be able to enter Canada at this country’s regular tariff rate of 6.1 per cent (this number will increase to 70,000 Chinese EVs by 2030).
And on Saturday, The Globe and Mail reported that Ottawa is planning to give preferential market access to automakers who commit to producing in Canada.
Foreign automakers who build vehicles in Canada will get preferential market access, official........