Canada has barred electric vehicle (EV) giant Tesla from all of its rebate programs and banned the Texas-based automotive company from future electric vehicle rebate programs over President Trump’s tariff back-and-forth with Ottawa.
Canada’s transport minister, Chrystia Freeland, said in a Tuesday statement to Reuters that Tesla will not be eligible for the rebate program as long as the “illegitimate and illegal U.S. tariffs are imposed against Canada.”
Trump slapped a sweeping 25 percent tariff on Mexico and Canada three weeks ago, only to delay most of it until at least April 2. The president is set to announce new automobile tariffs on Wednesday, Bloomberg News reported.
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, who this week called a new election, wrote that “auto parts cross the Canada-U.S. border six times on average before final assembly. In a trade crisis, that’s a vulnerability.”
“It’s time to build more cars right here at home with an All-In-Canada auto manufacturing network,” the new prime minister said Wednesday on the social media platform X.
Ottawa’s move halts around $30 million in rebate payments to Tesla, a company led by tech billionaire and close Trump adviser Elon Musk.
Before the program was shuttered, Tesla submitted a substantial number of rebate claims, with one Tesla dealership in Quebec City seeking almost $14 million in subsidies, according to the Toronto Star, which first reported on the rebate freeze.
Freeland said each of Tesla’s rebate claims submitted before the freeze would be probed individually before being approved.
Earlier this month, Tesla warned the Trump administration that Tesla and other U.S. exporters could be targeted with retaliatory tariffs in light of Trump’s escalating trade war.
“While Tesla recognizes and supports the importance of fair trade, the assessment undertaken by USTR of potential actions to rectify unfair trade should also take into account exports from the United States,” Tesla said in a March 11 letter to U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer.
“U.S. exporters are inherently exposed to disproportionate impacts when other countries respond to U.S. trade actions,” said the unsigned three-page letter.
The Hill has reached out to Tesla for comment.
