Canada Kicks Out Tesla
Like the US, Canada has put 100% tariffs on EVs imported from China. This includes the Teslas built in the world’s largest country by population. Although Tesla’s sales in Canada are small, it is a warning that Tesla’s sales could be in other countries that adopt laws to stop what are mostly inexpensive Chinese cars from entering their countries.
Protect Ford
The Canadian tariffs are very similar to those imposed by the US. Although the government has given several reasons for their actions, they are mostly to help local car manufacturers, which are primarily Ford and GM, and to help unionized workers from losing their jobs. Canada and the US also say the Chinese government helps their car companies with financing which lets them sell cars at low prices. It is not clear if that is true. Tesla has done very well on car quality surveys.
Like China
The Canadian government’s decision, it said, was mostly to block imports from China EV giants, led by BYD. However, one company hurt by the fallout was Tesla. According to Reuters, “Canadian imports of automobiles from China to its largest port, Vancouver, jumped 460% year over year to 44,356 in 2023, when Tesla started shipping Shanghai-made EVs to Canada.” It is not clear how many of those were Teslas.
Ultimately Canada is too small to matter, up reflection. So, maybe the announcement doesn’t matter.
