Canada is none too pleased with Tesla. It’s not exactly pleased with the US either. Both situations are understandable. In the first case, tensions were already rising because it seems that Canadian Tesla dealers pulled some shady moves to get money out of the country’s EV incentive plan. With the latter, tensions are rising due to Trump announcing that he will finally go through with imposing 25% tariffs on imported cars, including those from Canada and Mexico. Now that the trade war is beginning, one of Canada’s first targets is Tesla. According to Reuters, the country and its cities are looking to make sure Tesla can’t benefit from EV incentives.
Tesla, Inc. is an American electric vehicle manufacturer largely attributed to driving the EV revolution. Through the Model S and subsequent products, Tesla has innovated and challenged industry conventions on numerous fronts, including over-the-air updates, self-driving technology, and automotive construction methods. Tesla is considered the world’s most valuable car brand as of 2023, and the Model Y the world’s best-selling car in the same year, but the brand’s greatest achievement is arguably the Supercharger network of EV charging stations.
- Founded
-
July 1, 2003
- Founder
-
Martin Eberhard, Marc Tarpenning
- Headquarters
-
Austin, Texas, USA
- Owned By
-
Publicly Traded
- Current CEO
-
Elon Musk
Halting Future Incentives
Reuters reports that Canada’s Transport Minister Chrystia Freeland has specifically told the transportation department that Tesla needs to be excluded from any future EV incentives. Presumably, these would be incentives similar to that of the Incentives for Zero-Emission Vehicles (iZEV) program. Much like America’s federal EV tax credit, the program would give buyers of electric or hybrid cars a discount off the purchase or lease price. It also had limits on vehicle price tag, and some vehicles with less electric range would get less money off the price. The program ended back in January when the money for the program ran out, though Canada was considering a follow-up. Incentives could be as high as $5,000, and not being eligible for such a discount could be a serious blow to Tesla in Canada. Reuters also reported that the city of Toronto has already implemented its own punishment for Tesla. Apparently it had halted any incentives for Teslas purchased for taxi and ride-sharing use.
Related
America Still Has EV Tax Credits, But Canada Ended Its Incentives
It’s not for the reason you might think.
Tariffs And Incentive Trickery
One of the big contributors to all of this is, of course, Trump’s new tariffs on cars and car parts. While he had gone back and forth for more than a month about implementing them, he finally gave the go-ahead on Wednesday night. It places a 25% tariff on vehicles and many car parts imported from all countries, including Mexico and Canada, despite the US having a free-trade agreement with them. On top of the tariff lacking any exemptions for those two countries, it also had no exemptions for American automakers. With American automakers having substantial manufacturing resources in those two countries, this tariff is a blow to both the companies and those countries. And as we previously mentioned, Elon Musk has thoroughly inserted himself into the US government as an advisor to President Trump and running the Department of Government Efficiency, so Tesla is a strong target.
Related
Trump Unveils New 25% Tariffs On Imported Cars And Parts, UAW Voices Support
New 25% auto tariffs stoke industry fears of price hikes, but the UAW is applauding potential job gains.
Furthermore, Canada’s Tesla dealers decided to get sneaky with the incentive system we talked about. A group of Tesla dealers all registered more than 8,000 sales all on the same day, just as the incentive system was reaching the end of its funding. This is obviously extremely suspicious, and the result is that Canada has halted all payments from the incentive program on Teslas, pending further investigation. The total amount of money frozen is around $30 million. With all of this combined, it’s not at all surprising that the country’s first target in trade retaliation would be Musk and Tesla.
Source: Reuters
