Ontario, (Global Times): Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney on Thursday (Canadian time) announced a new electric vehicle (EV) strategy to transform the country’s auto industry, and stressed strategic partnership with China to further diversify trade and catalyze new investment in the automotive sector, in a move that BBC describes as Canada’s latest efforts to “reduce its reliance on the US.”
A Chinese expert said the shift in Canada’s policy to enhance win-win bilateral economic and trade cooperation with China, different from the previous Justin Trudeau government that closely followed the US to contain China, marks that Canada is returning to the right track of mutually beneficial cooperation with China, which is set to have a demonstration effect on other countries, especially some US allies.
Another expert said given China’s EV advantages, partnership with China will help rebuild Canada’s automotive industry competitiveness in the future. Under the strategy, the Canadian federal government will launch a five-year, 2.3-billion-Canadian-dollar “EV Affordability Program,” according to a news release from the prime minister’s official website.
The program will offer consumers purchase or lease incentives of up to 5,000 Canadian dollars ($3,658) for battery-electric and fuel EVs, while those opting for plug-in hybrids can receive up to 2,500 Canadian dollars, it said.Carney said in the release that the Canadian government has also agreed to a new strategic partnership with China, a global leader in EV manufacturing, to further diversify trade and catalyze new investment in the automotive sector.
The recently announced partnership will look to drive new Chinese joint venture investment in Canada and allow for a fixed volume of Chinese EV imports into the Canadian market, he said. The new policies, Carney said, are meant to transform Canada’s economy and make it less reliant on a single trade partner after the US’ economic assaults and threats on Canada’s sovereignty have frayed relations between the two nations, according to a report by The New York Times.”We must take care of ourselves,” Carney told reporters at an auto parts factory near Toronto. “We cannot control what others do,” he said, per the report.
Meanwhile, BBC reported that the new initiatives “mark Canada’s latest effort to reduce its reliance on the US,” amid the US government’s push for more domestic car production. Bao Jianyun, dean and professor of the Department of International Politics at the School of International Studies at Renmin University of China, praised the Canadian government’s pragmatic attitude of strengthening cooperation with China in the EV field. Compared with the previous Trudeau government that closely followed the US and assisted the US in containing China, the new Carney administration’s active moves to enhance win-win economic and trade cooperation with China marks that Canada is returning to the right track in economic and trade ties with China, Bao said told the Global Times on Friday.
The Canadian government announced during Carney’s visit to China in January that it will grant China an annual quota of 49,000 EVs. Vehicles within this quota will enjoy the most-favored-nation tariff rate of 6.1 percent and be exempted from the 100 percent additional tariff, with the quota volume set to increase year by year at a certain ratio, according to the Canadian government website.
Following the announcement, a new poll conducted by North American market research company Leger showed that most Canadians support allowing more Chinese electric vehicles (EVs) to be sold in Canada, according to the Canadian Press on Wednesday.”Enhancing cooperation with China in the EV field will not only bring more technologically advanced and cost-effective cars to Canadians, but also create more jobs and taxes and enhance Canada’s overall industrial chain by stimulating new direct investment,” Zhang Xiang, secretary-general of the International Intelligent Vehicle Engineering Association, told the Global Times on Friday.
China maintained the top global position in terms of production and sales of NEVs for the 11th straight year in 2025, featuring the world’s largest and most complete industrial chain. Thanks to scale effect, the cost of components is relatively lower compared with those produced outside the country, Zhang said. Bao said Canada’s win-win economic and trade cooperation is expected to have a demonstration effect on more countries, especially US allies that faced additional tariffs from Washington, to carry out friendly cooperation with China in the future. “The trend of global free trade led by China is in the formation,” he said.
