Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said on Monday he wanted to propose a harmonized system of tax credits between Canada and the United States for electric cars, in order to avoid a trade dispute between the two partner countries.
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His remarks follow the threat formulated on Friday by Canada to impose tariffs on certain American products if the United States puts in place the plan wanted by Joe Biden of subsidies for the purchase of electric vehicles “made in the USA” .
“Canada and the United States have been building cars together for over 50 years now,” Trudeau said, referring to the “deeply integrated” supply chains between the two countries.
“This is why we are working very hard with the United States to make them understand that the tax credits for electric cars made by the Americans are obviously not a good thing for Canada, nor for the United States”, did he declare.
The Canadian Prime Minister added that a “number of solutions” have been proposed in Washington and that they are the subject of discussions, in particular this idea “of aligning the bounties in Canada and the United States for s’ ensure that there are no slippages or unfair advantages on either side ”.
Washington’s proposed tax credit to get Americans to buy US-made electric vehicles is part of a massive $ 1.750 billion social and environmental plan (dubbed “Build Back Better”) , which is currently being discussed in Congress.
On Friday, Canadian Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland and Trade Minister Mary Ng assured in a letter to several US senators that the proposed US tax credit was equivalent to “a 34% tariff on electric vehicles assembled in the United States. Canada ”.