Skip to main content


China will remove canola tariffs if Canada scraps EV levies: ambassador


in reply to IndridCold

I say we do this. The ONLY reason Canada put tariffs on Chinese EVs is because of the US - back when the US was our friend. Those days are well over.

From what I understand, Chinese EVs out perform the US ones (charge quicker with longer range) and are way cheaper.

in reply to IndridCold

I have a security concern with Chinese EVs.

They're far too computerized, and connected, at this point.

The last thing I want is the ability for the Chinese government to disable a quarter of the Canadian vehicle fleet if they decided they wanted to. Or potentially even worse than disabling them in some cases.

in reply to BlameThePeacock

American cars are the same, and China hasn't joked about making us their 24th province.
in reply to acargitz

I'm far less concerned about the American government disabling vehicles in Canada. If America wanted to take us over we couldn't even dream of stopping them.

China could benefit from causing problems though.

in reply to BlameThePeacock

At this point it's not even inconceivable for Americans to do something as retaliation for, say, Dougie Ford shutting down electricity. Or use it as a bargain chip as part of playing it tough in a negotiation.

Or forget the taking us over bit. It's not the taking over that is hard for them, it's keeping control. We can very effectively resist and make the occupation extremely costly for them. Every bit of leverage they have makes this harder.

Fuck, is it that inconceivable that if they go full Gilead they wouldn't start shit like controlling whether you can drive your car to an abortion clinic?

This entry was edited (1 month ago)
in reply to BlameThePeacock

This is possible with most modern vehicles today. They nearly all have cellular modems built in and very few have the driving related systems separated from the 'infotainment' crapware. 2014ish jeeps could be bricked by OTA updates to the fucking radio, there's a good Defcon talk about it
in reply to Nik282000

Yes, but I'd much rather have the company controlling the official switch not be directly under the control of China.

The US is only marginally better right now, but they have less incentive to do it and less control of their car companies.

in reply to BlameThePeacock

A vulnerability was found this year in an undisclosed major car manufacture in the USA that gave total control to an attacker over all vehicles sold by that manufacture's dealerships. Remote start/shutoff, unlock doors, GPS tracking, even transferring the ownership to another person. All modern vehicles are a security nightmare, the chinese are no better, no worse. eaton-works.com/2025/10/13/def…
in reply to Nik282000

They are worse, because the Chinese government has direct access to an official kill switch if they want it.

Just because there can be other problems doesn't make that any less of a problem

in reply to IndridCold

China isn’t Canada’s friend. Spending money on Chinese goods means you are funding Russia’s war against Ukraine.

If you need to import something, why not import it from the EU? They make EVs. As does South Korea.

reuters.com/world/china/china-…

in reply to reddig33

This reasoning is weird. Was buying American goods or UK goods or German goods funding Israel's genocide in Gaza??
in reply to IndridCold

Wanna see a trick? I can make bots appear, watch this:

Maybe if China agrees to stop being a threat to Taiwan, stops interfering in our politics, and stops spying on us, and builds some auto plants here to employ some Canadians, we can talk about their fucking EVs. Until then, we already have one international bully as a trade partner, we don't need more.

don't like this

in reply to DonkMagnum

Canada lied about stop selling arms to israel who are we to gives lessons?

The reasons we have tariffs on China has nothing to do with bs you spew we did it to protect the usa car industry

This entry was edited (1 month ago)
in reply to mrdown

The American and Japanese auto industries both employ Canadians.

don't like this

in reply to DonkMagnum

Chinese would also employ Canadians or any other countries investing in Canada. Why couldn't we start investing in our own companies to build cars?
in reply to DonkMagnum

Not a fan of China, but it's sort of rich to demand non-interference when inferring some interference ourselves.

Maybe if China agrees to stop being a threat to Taiwan, stops interfering in our politics

Also this is rich:

builds some auto plants here to employ some Canadians,

So does that mean we will be basing our canola growers in China?

Canada reshared this.

in reply to Red Whacker

lol. Do you really think the economic impact of our canola industry is on par with the potential impact Chinese EVs? It's a ridiculous notion.
in reply to DonkMagnum

No, I do not.

But it does beg the question why you didn't lead with that instead of your cute grandstanding initial comment.

Canada reshared this.

in reply to DonkMagnum

Is it? Have you run the numbers?

Just think about the amount of land in Canada dedicated to growing canola vs the amount dedicated to building EVs. Or the number of people employed, for that matter.

in reply to Red Whacker

You forgot one thing, when OP has a bad take it is called "the correct opinion and the obvious stance expressed with freedom" when some else does (or has a good take that OP doesn't like) it's called bots interfering in our politics.
in reply to DonkMagnum

"Threat to Taiwan" they are a threat to each other, Taiwan claims the whole of China, PRC claims the whole of China as well.

"Interfering in our politics" sinophobic, but even then the US presents a much bigger threat. I don't really think there is much interventionism done by the PRC troughout its history lol

"Stops spying on us" US giggles lol

in reply to Packet

These are all blatant lies, but thanks for proving me right, bot.

Btw, native English speakers don't write things like "giggles".

in reply to DonkMagnum

Beep bop I am a bot, come here to destroy your beautiful country, we are the horror of the white nations. And are you seriously profiling people for using "giggles", lmao when will you bring out your skull ruler?
in reply to DonkMagnum

Yes, nothing wrong with Winnie the pooh, great character, silly bear. Except for when the yellow bear is used to portray an Asian person, coupled with the "Tigger" the tiger used to portray a black person, i.e. Obama.

github.com/dessalines/essays/b…

in reply to DonkMagnum

These are all blatant lies


The comment you're replying to contains an opinion, two statements of fact, two more opinions, an historical assessment couched in "i don't really think", and finally closes with giggles and lol.

I don't see any lies there; if you think the factual claims in it are wrong I encourage you to read up: the PRC and ROC actually do both claim all of China, and the PRC's foreign policy is largely non-interventionist.

thanks for proving me right, bot


Do you find many people online with opinions differing from your own who you don't think are bots?

in reply to IndridCold

Do it. Canola is an important industry to Canada and we don't make evs here anyway.
in reply to IndridCold

I don't drive, but that'd be cool if canola oil became even cheaper. :3
in reply to snoons

The oil would become more expensive, because it can now be exported cheaper.
in reply to IndridCold

Between USA that has gone completely mad and this other superpower, China, that supports Russia, which wages war against its allies, this put Canada in a difficult situation. Canola and electric vehicles might just be entry level bargaining points ... who knows, certainly not me.
in reply to IndridCold

On October 8th, after Carney's meeting with Trump, Lutnick said that the US is going to insist on dominating the North American auto market and have assembly all happen in the US with Canada being forced into a subordinate role.

We need alternatives.

I doubt we will make this deal with China, because the US will not tolerate that, but it would be much better for Canadians.

in reply to AGM

It would be a catastrophe for Canadians as China seeks to exploit trade opportunities with other countries while at the same time protect its home markets through a wide range of measures no Western country has ever done. Just look at China's trade balances, for example, and you see what happens. But I guess not all people want to see the truth.
This entry was edited (1 month ago)
in reply to

Sock puppet Scotty, at it again, joined by sock puppet randomname this time. What time are you two clocking off for the day?
in reply to IndridCold

With Canada so obsessed with keeping vehicle manufacturing jobs to the detriment of every Canadian not wanting to buy American cars. Why does Canada drop the Chinese tarrifs but demand certain assembly and manufacturing of Chinese vehicles happen in Canada?

Sounds like a win win, but they are too stuck on the idea they should only manufacture cars from incumbent companies that are stuck in the past. Canada has significant geological resources like lithium and rare earth metals is an even better reason to be excited about EV production in Canada.

in reply to Kyle

Because cars assembled in Canada cost more, a lot more compared to slave labour.
in reply to IndridCold

Sounds like an easy decision; we sell our rapeseed and get non-American cars.
in reply to IndridCold

Australians have access to Chinese EVs, why can't we?
This entry was edited (1 month ago)
in reply to IndridCold

Serious question; how much does China subsidize EV sales to glut markets and buy market share? I'm guessing it's non-zero.

I'd love to see canola embargoes open because I have a bunch of bins full, but is this fair to other vendors, domestic and other foreign makers?

in reply to ikidd

Serious question; how much does China subsidize EV sales to glut markets and buy market share? I’m guessing it’s non-zero.


Probably less than our subsidies.

in reply to IndridCold

Canada needs to diversify the trade to rely less on the USA. The current gov has a huge problem on their hands but also opportunities to do something new!

When it comes to the EV tariffs I see opportunities for Canada, we have factories, some of the raw materials, Human Resources, experienceand logistics in place for the automotive industry! The Ev industry needs more than the cars there is a new ecosystem that can be worked with Chinese companies by doing knowledge transfer, manufacture autos + parts by bringing the suppliers as well. EVs need batteries and the charging network, we can bring these items to the trade talks.

China al has the largest high-speed rail network and why not expand the deals to help Canada build our high-speed rail Network?

in reply to IndridCold

I'd buy a Chinese EV. I need an inexpensive vehicle to go from A to B in a city. There doesn't seem to be an inexpensive option anymore in North America.
in reply to melsaskca

"inexpensive vehicle" usually means a pre-owned vehicle and there are plenty of affordable pre-owned EVs and hybrids on the market. If you're the kind who buys new cars, then Chevy Bolt and Nissan Leaf are the least expensive. If you compare with new ICE cars, don't forget to account for gasoline cost.
in reply to melsaskca

Mext municipal election you should make sure to vote for the person who’s championing stronger public transit options. I still have my car from loving in Ottawa but I barely touch it these days(usually for going to Ottawa, because I can easily get to Gare Centrale with the metro here but once I get to Ottawa it starts getting rough fast if I try to leave the LRT(and before the LRT it was a complete impossibility). Not to mention that it costs more because of the mess we made of privatising CN and shooting VIA rail in both its feet.
This entry was edited (1 month ago)
in reply to Soup

It takes me 35min to drive to work, by public transit it would take me 2h. Ontario is fucked.
in reply to Nik282000

Yup. It’s not why I left but it is why I’m never moving back.
in reply to IndridCold

Seems to me that the happy medium here might be a lower tariff. 100% was never justified, but 10% or 25% might be. Just enough to allow European and Japanese manufacturers (I don't give a damn about the US at this point) to price their vehicles somewhat competitively even though they don't have the advantage of ignoring labour rights.
in reply to IndridCold

It's not like Chinese EV's are bad, but they have started a war to overtake EV industry.\
Their government is founding EV companies, to advance and take the lead, putting at risk companies like Ford, BMW and so on.

I saw, and I saw how they have managed to change battery instead of charging the car, and I was impressed of what they can actually do.

in reply to rose56

in reply to rose56

Battery swapping is now redundant with newer cheaper sodium based batteries. They can now make a 100kwhr pack for $10,000, down 90% from ten years ago.
in reply to rose56

I don't think China even needed to work hard to take the lead. US car companies have been fighting EV manufacture for years. The few EVs they do put out are crippled to make them less viable for the average American market. They do this to push more HUGE trucks that slurp gas.

US car companies refuse to work outside what they know. Fuck um. They need to die.

in reply to IndridCold

If Chinese manufactures can exceed Canadian standards, provide spare parts for a minimum of 10 years from the date of manufacture, provide a minimum of 10 years of software support/updates, AND allow all software to be audited for both safe function and security. Then sure. Bring on the cheap EVs.

(But not even our current domestically produced vehicles meet those requirements)

in reply to Nik282000

The issues is they are artificially cheap, which undercuts Canada's auto component industry from serving as an EV hub.
The Chinese government paid for production and have lots (as in sites) of cars that are unsold. They offered huge discounts to unload last years production. Since there were laws about discounting new cars, they moved them (paperwork wise) through shell type arrangements to make them appear as used cars (with less than 5km on the odometer etc).

That stuff undercuts any means of US and Canada EVs being viable.

in reply to BCsven

Question, would you say that Teslas are artificially cheap?
in reply to mistermodal

Tesla has government assistance programs in US and Canada, but $35000 Tesla does not compete with $14000 Chinese car
in reply to BCsven

Get a grip. So, assuming you realize that you just admitted Canada has a double standard for banning subsidized electric vehicles, why not force the US to offer you a better deal? Tesla has no issue operating in China. Where is your spine?
in reply to Nik282000

It's a serious security hole cause the software can be updated through network, the version gets audit and all the follow up update can be good, but the moment it needs to go rogue you just need 1 malicious update to have serious and wide spread harm/attack on a button.

IMO for any vehicles to allow over the network update is beyond stupid. (yes, that includes Tesla.)

in reply to PenguinTD

There are a few good defcon talks where it has been shown that the engine control and body control can be accessed and modified via the "infotainment" system (the one I saw specifically was Jeeps).
in reply to Nik282000

This entry was edited (1 month ago)
in reply to Clearwater

Modern cars expose the engine/body control CAN bus through the fucking headlights. You don't need to be in the car and it doesn't need to be on for you to have the same or more access than the OBDII port.

It doesn't matter what the country of origin is, someone is gonna find a way to break OTA updates, gain access via exposed wireless networks or just pop off a CAN bus controlled light and plug in. How long before someone pushes a malicious update that causes the ABS to disable or degrade braking to near 0%, or just throw the electronic power steering full left whenever the speed exceeds 101km/h?

in reply to Nik282000

But that would be silly, because the easiest way to kill someone without consequence is to get behind the wheel and run them over. People could also be putting bombs in product boxes and poison in medicine. A coherent society doesn't have these problems.
This entry was edited (1 month ago)
in reply to ProgrammingSocks

Forgot about wanacrypt, stuxnet or the Ashley Madison breach? indiscriminate harm is the norm not the exception.
in reply to Nik282000

Let me say it this way, you propose some convoluted technological way to fuck with someone's car, but you can already just go under and start cutting vital lines. But again, that's extremely rare because most people aren't inclined to doing that kind of harm.
in reply to ProgrammingSocks

Do you lock your door? Why, people don't just go into other people's houses, they're not inclined to do so.

The point is having vehicles vulnerable to such trivial abuse is unacceptable. It only takes one cunt who decides that he wants to randsomeware every Toyota in the world to spoil the party.

in reply to Nik282000

Only Toyota was dumb enough to have a CAN bus run to the headlights. Edit: and use the same bus the keyless system runs on.
This entry was edited (1 month ago)
in reply to Lemmyoutofhere

It's in dodge vehicles now, the other manufactures will follow soon. It saves a fuck ton of wising when you only need to run a single power wire and data bus to each light cluster instead of power for high beams, low beams, fog lights, indicators and vanity wank lights.
in reply to Nik282000

Yes, but it is a different CAN bus than anything critical to the operation of the powertrain. A typical BMW will have five or six different, and completely separate, CAN bus.
This entry was edited (1 month ago)
in reply to Lemmyoutofhere

And bmw makes up 3% of the north american market. The big players will continue to cut corners and crank out cars with minimal or non-existant security. Not that it matters, manufactures are bricking their own products: thestack.technology/jeep-softw…
in reply to PenguinTD

Hey kinda like the F-35

It's fine though when the Americans do it do is.

in reply to HertzDentalBar

Carney is still buying those lemons the US Navy rejected. I guess elbows out means buying overpriced junk while cutting all services.
in reply to SaveTheTuaHawk

"how do I hold all these" meme but instead of his arms it's just elbows
in reply to IndridCold

Ten years ago I'm not sure I'd have said this, but now: fuck it. We should just get into bed with China. They seem totally uninterested in wars at all unless you're Taiwan, which we're not. Trade matters. They seem stable. Sure there are some human rights issues but given all the human rights issues fucking everywhere right now, like. I dunno. I'm for it.
in reply to krooklochurm

This is exactly the mentality that caused WW1 and WW2 AND the upcoming (or ongoing) WW3.
You probably did not aware how many IP theft happened to Canadian local firms and institutions.
in reply to PenguinTD

What IP? How to dig holes with oxycontin addicts? Hilarious, Canada spends fuck all in R&D.
in reply to krooklochurm

I don't even think China is interested in any wars over Taiwan. I'm fairly certain it will be a peaceful rejoining once the US crumbles, akin to East and West Germany during the fall of the Soviet Union.
This entry was edited (1 month ago)
in reply to krooklochurm

Sure there are some human rights issues


They only kill people I don't care about in mines and factories, so it's cool!

in reply to Nik282000

My point is more that there are few countries I can think of that are viable trading partners that aren't committing appalling human rights abuses Joe.
in reply to IndridCold

There is/should be a lot of room for compromise.

A mix of "reasonable" tariffs and quotas to start, to make Chinese EVs competitive without destroying domestic manufacturing is a good path. Canada needs investment. Whether foreign auto makers do it, following through on previous commitments, shutting out China can be a reward for them.

Without choosing to provide value cars to Canadians, Canada could offer agriculture for Chinese (solar) energy trade. Pemitting them to boost capacity even more.

Instead of begging the US to buy (and own through investment) our resources, Chinese development would help significantly as well.

Corrupt ideology programmed into Canadians is bad for Canada. We need new friends instead of abusers, and the only reform of an abuser possible comes when they beg for forgiveness when you flirt with new friends.

in reply to IndridCold

Hey, remember when China was operating their own police force in Canada? Maybe we should be doing less business with them.
in reply to Nik282000

I remember people saying that but I don't recall ever seeing any evidence of it actually happening
in reply to IndridCold

The timing seems suspicious. Crops are sold already, with tariffs, and now it's 11 months with no sales.

Come back in 9 months and we can talk.