Okay, so like… Canada just swiped right on China, and Washington is low-key watching from across the room. On Friday, Prime Minister Mark Carney announced a major tariff deal with Beijing that basically says: you take our canola, we’ll take your electric cars, and let’s all please stop yelling.
Under the agreement, Canada will allow nearly 50,000 Chinese-made electric vehicles into the country each year at a dramatically lower tariff rate — 6.1 per cent instead of 100 per cent — starting March 1. In return? China is slashing its brutal canola seed tariffs from a combined 84 per cent to about 15 per cent, plus promising to remove tariffs on Canadian canola meal, lobsters, crabs and peas “until at least the end of this year.”
Trade truce vibes, basically.
This move officially ends a painful trade war that started after Ottawa imposed massive EV tariffs in 2024, alongside the U.S., over concerns that China was subsidizing and overproducing electric vehicles and flooding global markets. Beijing clapped back with levies on Canadian seafood and agriculture, and Saskatchewan farmers have been stressed ever since.
Carney announced the deal after hours of meetings with Chinese President Xi Jinping during his first official visit to China — also the first visit by a Canadian prime minister since 2017. He called it the first tangible result of a new “strategic partnership” with Beijing and said relations with China have recently been more predictable than those with the United States. Oof.
“The world has changed much since that last visit,” Carney said earlier in meetings with Premier Li Qiang, adding that the partnership sets Canada up well for a “new world order.” Casual sentence. Huge implications.
The deal does come with caveats. The low tariff only applies to the first 49,000 vehicles each year, a number Carney expects to rise by about 6 per cent annually, hitting roughly 70,000 within five years. That still represents less than 3 per cent of the Canadian auto market, Carney noted, since Canadians buy about 1.8 million vehicles a year.
Also: part of the quota will be reserved for EVs with an import price of $35,000 or less, with that share increasing 50 per cent by 2030. Translation: cheaper electric cars for Canadian consumers.
China also committed to removing visa requirements for Canadians travelling there, which… okay, plot twist bonus perk.
Meanwhile, the United States is not exactly thrilled. U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer called the decision “problematic,” warning Canada may regret it. And while President Donald Trump didn’t immediately criticize Carney — saying, “If you can get a deal with China, you should do that” — the timing is awkward, given that the Canada–U.S.–Mexico trade deal is up for review this year.
At home, the criticism came fast. Conservative Leader Pierre P., who has previously called Chinese EVs “roving surveillance systems,” demanded Carney explain how China went from Canada’s “biggest security threat” to a “strategic partner.” Ontario Premier Doug Ford warned the move could hurt Canada’s auto sector, saying China now has “a foothold in the Canadian market… at the expense of Canadian workers.”
Carney pushed back, arguing that affordable EVs will help consumers and that the deal could even spur Chinese auto investment in Canada — though he offered zero details on how. He also doubled down on engaging with China despite its human-rights record, saying, “We take the world as it is – not as we wish it to be.”
The bigger picture? The Carney government has a 10-year goal to double non-U.S. trade and boost exports by $300 billion annually. This deal is step one — messy, controversial, but very “new era.”
Is it bold diplomacy or a risky situationship with Beijing? TBD. But one thing’s for sure: Canada just made a choice, and everyone is watching.
XOXO,
Valley Girl News
Where trade wars are just international drama with spreadsheets
