The head of Canada’s automotive parts industry is warning against dropping tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles, saying the move would jeopardize the country’s EV sector and send the wrong message during an ongoing trade dispute with Beijing.
“I am reminding (the premiers) publicly, that if Canada is in a trade war with a country, then the response has to be a Canadian response,” Flavio Volpe said in an interview with CTV News Channel on Sunday, referring to premiers Wab Kinew of Manitoba and Scott Moe of Saskatchewan.
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“These Chinese EVs are not made for profit, they are subsidized,” the president of the Automotive Parts Manufacturers’ Association said, arguing that the vehicles are “dumped around the world” to flood markets and suppress local competition.
“This is a national play,” he added. “We’re in the middle of a game, and the only thing that changed … was the Chinese ambassador said, ‘If you do this, we’ll give you that.’ And last time I checked, the Chinese ambassador was sent from Beijing, not from Ottawa.”
Volpe also criticized Moe and Kinew for, in his view, echoing Beijing’s position.
“They took cues from the Chinese ambassador,” he said. “We don’t take our cues from somebody else. We work for Team Canada. I expect better leadership from two thoughtful premiers.”
Volpe said he has personally negotiated with Chinese automakers in the past, encouraging them to build in Canada. But that dialogue collapsed after China arrested Michael Spavor and Michael Kovrig in 2018.
“They pulled out when we pushed back,” he said, referencing the diplomatic freeze that followed the “Two Michaels” incident.
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I am old enough to remember the bailout of the auto industry in 2008. Cry me a river about Chinese subsidies. I am also aware of how regulations are tailored to encourage the production of highly inefficient gas guzzling vehicles.
Note to Canada’s automotive parts industry:
You’re not making parts for cars I will ever purchase. Get with the times.
“Shut up and buy a bigger pickup.”
Flavio Volpe
Canada’s automotive parts industry should be making batteries.
This exact thing is why there is no battery industry worth talking about in NA. Battery exports were heavily subsidized by the Chinese govt and this is where we ended up.
This also happened in solar panels, but even with 165% anti dumping tariffs, no Canadian company could make it work because there was always a route around them.
This willingness to do let them do exactly the same thing in EVs will hurt not only NA manufacturers but the many other countries other than China that are trying to build an EV and compete in a fair market
The battery story is different than that of solar. The vast majority of the batteries used in NA EVs up until a couple of years ago used Japanese and Korean tech and the cells were either made in Japan, Korea or NA. Chinese cells only recently began appearing in NA vehicles and they’re only of the LFP chemistry. Chinese subsidies had no bearing on our EV battery market until very recently. Our battery production is also heavily subsidized. Check the gobs of money we handed over for building batt plants as well as the EV rebates. Mind you that’s the right thing to do.
Currently the foremost threat to our battery production investments are the NA manufacuters scaling back their EV production plans. For example, Ford’s Oakville plant was supposed to be retooled to build EVs. Except that got canned late 2024 and it’s now being prepared to make F-250 (Super Duty). The current trajectory is producing more, large ICE vehicles. Honda also paused their planned large EV plant buildout in Alliston, ON. If we want to build batteries in Canada, we need EVs to put them in. If there are no EVs to put them in, the batt plans would falter. Chinese EVs won’t directly help with that but they could, if taxed appropriately, spur the domestic manufacturers into making EVs to compete, while also decreasing the wild vehicle prices at the moment. Better yet getting such vehicles through FDI instead of vehicle imports would provide EVs for the domestic battery suppy chain to fill directly, it would also absorb labour from the reduction of our auto sector as a result of Trump’s attacks. Oshawa’s GM shed a shift and that’s likely not the last we’ll see from this.
Ford tried. They made the F150 Lightning. No one bought them. Pickup drivers don’t give a fuck about the environment or society.
Ford tried. They made the F150 Lightning.
They “tried” in the most pointless way possible.
If they had made something like an EV Escort or Focus or Fiesta to compete with the Chev Volt/Bolt that would have sold to the urban comuuter crowd. Especially at the time when Chev pulled those models off the market for a few years.
They kinda tried. The F-150 Lightning starts at $62K. The Mach-e is a somewhat more legitimate attempt but that’s also very expensive. The larger problem here is that Ford and not only, gradually removed smaller and cheaper models from their lineups, EV or otherwise. That’s a conscious strategy to grow profit. Larger vehicles cost marginally more to make but command significantly higher prices. So when they introduced their EV models, there was no attempt to create a reasonably priced vehicle. The opposite. With all that said, the F-150 Lightning is still the top selling EV truck but the volumes are low. The average Canadian doesn’t need that. We need smaller, cheaper EVs. Like the Renault 5 EV. Or like some of what PRC is building.
That’s not to say I disagree with your assessment of pickup drivers. I’m just no longer considering what people care about. Instead I’m thinking about what they are likely to do based on the material reality they face. E.g. what the likely purchase decision of a person would be when faced with a 30K EV and a 50K EV of a relatively similar size and range. Can’t rely on people’s beliefs about the environment to transition to EVs.
So when they introduced their EV models, there was no attempt to create a reasonably priced vehicle
Exactly.
That is the reason why I am currently driving the only non-ford I’ve ever owned (after owning 6 small 4 cylinder Fords)
If they had built an EV version of one of those smaller cars (Escort/Fiesta/Focus, etc) I would not currently be driving a Corolla.
And now that I have the Toyota, i will say it’s a very good car and I don’t regret this purchase. But Ford could have got my money if they didn’t decide to ignore my market segment.
A competent Focus EV would be a dream.
That’s one of the industries that would be negatively affected by allowing cheap Chinese imports into Canada. Most of this is still in the investment phase. That would all be put at risk, if the market shifted to Chinese-made products.
Market is shifting to battery products, so Canadian industry must shift to battery products. It isn’t about location or country, it’s about which tech is better. Canada must switch to batteries. No battery user is going back to gasoline. Canada must switch or be left behind.
That’s why we just built a battery plant in Windsor, building a battery separator plant in Port Colborne, and building another battery plant in st Thomas shortly
All building old tech already outdated by CATL.
Yeah. That’s all in the article.
Of course they are worried, they should have started the move to electric years ago. Instead they have been lobbying for gasoline.
Auto manufacturers are not Elon Musk. They actually have to make money. Why the hell would they stop making V8 pickups when Canadians buy every single one they make?
Does Elon Musk not make any money??
Volpe said he has personally negotiated with Chinese automakers in the past, encouraging them to build in Canada. But that dialogue collapsed after China arrested Michael Spavor and Michael Kovrig in 2018.
“They pulled out when we pushed back,” he said, referencing the diplomatic freeze that followed the “Two Michaels” incident.
This small episode is another good example why China is not a reliable partner.
Uh…I guess you missed the part where Spavor and Kovrig were actually spying on Chinese IP.
