At this point, things in government are changing so quickly that it’s hard to keep up. While that’s probably by design, it will take some time to unravel the impacts of the White House’s latest salvo, as Trump’s tariffs on Mexico and Canada have driven the two countries to retaliate with trade duties of their own.
One of Canada’s retaliatory measures is a 25-percent tariff on many U.S.-made products, including EVs. The government’s statement said, “These countermeasures have one goal: To protect and defend Canada’s interests, consumers, workers, and businesses.” Products included in the action cross several industries, such as “passenger vehicles and trucks, including electric vehicles, steel and aluminum products, certain fruits and vegetables, aerospace products, beef, pork, dairy, trucks and buses, recreational vehicles, and recreational boats.”
EVs remain a small part of the overall North American auto market, but the list of American-made electric vehicles is far from insignificant. We’re talking about models like the Chevy Silverado EV, Rivians, Teslas, Lucid models, the Cadillac Lyriq, and many more. Automakers like GM are facing a two-fer with the tariffs, as it manufactures parts and vehicles that cross the border in both directions.
Canada is eying more aggressive and targeted tariffs for future actions, but the reality is that this development won’t land lightly in the auto industry. Automakers will only be willing to eat so much of their margins before passing costs onto consumers, and some analysts have suggested that the tariffs could paralyze the industry across North America.
[Images: Chevrolet, Tesla, Rivian]
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