‘Lopsided deal,’ Ontario Premier Doug Ford criticizes Carney’s electric vehicle deal with China

The Liberal government has struck a deal with China that will allow tens of thousands of Chinese electric vehicles (EV) into the Canadian market, prompting a harsh warning from Ontario’s Premier Doug Ford.

Responding to the news by the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) this morning, Ford says the deal means China “now has a foothold in the Canadian market and will use it to their full advantage at the expense of Canadian workers.”

Make no mistake: China now has a foothold in the Canadian market and will use it to their full advantage at the expense of Canadian workers.

The federal government is inviting a flood of cheap made-in-China electric vehicles without any real guarantee of equal or immediate…

— Doug Ford (@fordnation) January 16, 2026

According to the PMO, the 49,000 EVs will be imported with “the most-favoured-nation tariff rate of 6.1%”. That number is expected to grow to about 70,000 over five years.

“This is a return to levels prior to recent trade friction but under an agreement that promises much more for Canadians,” Prime Minister Mark Carney told reporters in Beijing.

BREAKING: Mark Carney slashes Canada's 100% tariff on Chinese EVs and announces that up to 49,000 Chinese electric cars will be imported into Canada with only a 6.1% tariff.

In return, China has agreed to slash tariffs on canola imports from 84% to 15% by March 1. pic.twitter.com/y48nqTWE8O

— Harrison Faulkner (@Harry__Faulkner) January 16, 2026

Canada imported 41,678 EVs from China in 2023. However, the following year former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau imposed a punitive 100 per cent tariff on Chinese-made vehicles in addition to the 25 per cent surtax on steel and aluminum imports from China.

Carney says the deal will eventually bring in Chinese investments into Canada and “protect and create new auto manufacturing careers for Canadian workers, and ensure a robust build-out of Canada’s EV supply chain.”

Unifor, a union representing approximately 40,000 members in the country’s automotive industry, is not convinced.

The federal government’s decision to open the door to China-owned EV imports poses an extreme risk to Canadian auto jobs and amounts to a "self-inflicted wound to an already injured Canadian auto industry," says Unifor National President @Lanampaynehttps://t.co/0siBm7wFRh

— Unifor (@UniforTheUnion) January 16, 2026

“This is a self-inflicted wound to an already injured Canadian auto industry,” Unifor National President Lana Payne said in a statement.

The union says the timing couldn’t be worse, as the country’s auto sector reels from the damages imposed by U.S. tariffs on Canadian vehicles and the rollbacks to EV policies south of the border. Of course, the tariffs have wreaked havoc on manufacturers across many industries throughout the country.

“Unifor has long warned about the risks of letting Chinese EVs flood the North American market. If left unchecked, it would cost Canadian jobs, stall domestic investment, and drive more imports from low-cost jurisdiction,” the union says.

The federal government claims the deal with China will improve affordability for Canadian consumers, with over half the EVs imported from China being priced at less than $35,000.

“Providing a foothold to cheap Chinese EVs, backed by massive state subsidies, overproduction and designed to expand market share through exports, puts Canadian auto jobs at risk while rewarding labour violations and unfair trade practices,” Payne says.

During his election campaign in early 2024, Carney had pledged to protect Canada’s auto sector through a $2-billion fund. While he did pause the federal government’s 2026 EV target back in September, the billions he pledged to the auto sector has yet to come to fruition.

Ford says the only way for the federal government to mitigate the negative consequences of the deal with Beijing is to “step up and support Ontario’s auto sector” – something he has been calling on for some time now.

“That means making the sector more competitive by ending the electric vehicle mandate, harmonizing regulations with key trading partners and scrapping federal fees,” Ford said in his X post.

He is calling on the federal government to work with provinces to bring investment and jobs “where assembly lines are at risk or have already left the country.”

Now Toronto reached out to the PMO for clarifications on how the new deal would boost the country’s automotive industry but did not hear back by deadline.