Chinese cars can’t cross from Canada to U.S., Trump’s envoy says

“You guys haven’t really been harmed by the tariffs,” Pete Hoekstra argued, calling Canada’s current deal with the U.S. the second-best in the world. Photo by TONY CALDWELL/Postmedia

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The United States won’t allow Chinese electric cars from Canada to enter its market, President Donald Trump’s ambassador in Ottawa said, after a January deal in which Prime Minister Mark Carney lowered tariffs on those vehicles.

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“Those cars can come in from China, come into Canada, but they’re not going to cross the border into the U.S.,” Pete Hoekstra said in an interview with Canada’s Rebel News. “That ain’t gonna happen.”

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“We’re not going to open the floodgates to Chinese cars entering the U.S. from Canada,” he said, citing security concerns related to data collected and transmitted by modern vehicles.

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Hoekstra did not clarify whether he meant that Chinese cars legally imported into Canada would be denied the U.S. paperwork needed for resale, barred entirely from crossing the border, or subjected to other administrative hurdles. The U.S. has introduced regulations that restrict the sale or import of connected vehicles using technology from China and Russia.

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The White House didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

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In 2024, Canada imposed a 100 per cent tariff on Chinese electric vehicles to align with the policy of then-President Joe Biden. That prompted Chinese counter-tariffs on key Canadian agricultural exports.

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Then, after taking office last year, President Donald Trump slapped tariffs on Canadian autos anyway.

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“You guys haven’t really been harmed by the tariffs,” Hoekstra argued on the podcast, calling Canada’s current deal with the U.S. the second-best in the world. Beyond targeted sectors including autos, lumber, steel and aluminum, many Canadian goods remain exempt from U.S. levies as long as they’re traded under the rules of the Canada-U.S.-Mexico Agreement.

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Squeezed by tariffs from the world’s two largest economies, Canadian officials changed course. Carney struck a tariff deal with President Xi Jinping in January that allows China to export electric vehicles to Canada at a much lower tariff rate, with an initial quota of 49,000 vehicles in 12 months. In exchange, China agreed to lower import taxes on certain food products, including canola and lobsters.

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Despite Trump’s repeated remarks that he wants to repatriate auto manufacturing — a sector long integrated across the U.S.-Canada border — Hoekstra said Canada was not a top concern for U.S. officials as they seek to reshape global trading relationships.

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It’s “not inevitable” that car factories shift down to the U.S., said Hoekstra, a former Congressman from Michigan, the U.S. auto heartland.

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“Canada’s not our problem with autos. You have a phenomenal story to tell to our U.S. trade rep about, ‘Here’s why Canada deserves to be in the lowest tariff bucket.’”

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Most Canadian-made vehicles have a significant proportion of U.S.-manufactured parts. “Cars going across the border are 50 per cent, 75 per cent U.S. content. Those are the kind of cars we like coming in,” Hoekstra said.