Canada’s government will not continue Trudeau’s policy mandating at least 20% electric vehicle sales from automakers as of the model year 2026, as Mark Carney’s new cabinet is looking to protect the auto industry that has been hit by the U.S. trade policies and tariffs.
The Canadian government will be announcing later on Friday that it will delay the EV sales mandate, sources with knowledge of the plans to prop up industries hit by the trade war told Bloomberg.
The previous government of Justin Trudeau enacted many policies to mandate cleaner energy and tax fossil fuels, but Carney’s cabinet is now rolling back some of these, to protect jobs and the industry during the Trump Administration’s trade blitz.
Canada will now announce it will launch a review of the “electric vehicle availability standard” to see that the EV mandate policy does not burden car manufacturers, which have been suffering from the U.S. tariffs.
Under Trudeau’s Electric Vehicle Availability Standard, auto manufacturers and importers must meet annual zero-emission vehicle (ZEV) regulated sales targets. The targets begin for the 2026 model year, and at least 20% of new light-duty vehicles offered for sale in that year should be zero emission. The requirements increase annually to 60% by 2030 and 100% by 2035.
In July, the associations representing automakers and car dealers welcomed the announcement of consultations between the province of Quebec and the auto industry, aimed at adapting the Zero-Emission Vehicle (ZEV) standard to the new realities of the market.
“The auto industry reaffirms its commitment to the energy transition, while calling for a pragmatic approach based on current economic and commercial conditions,” the Canadian Vehicle Manufacturers’ Association (CVMA) and Global Automakers of Canada (GAC) said.
“Falling demand for ZEVs exacerbated by US tariffs, a slowing economy, and counterproductive government policies have made Quebec’s ZEV sales targets impossible to achieve,” commented CVMA President and CEO Brian Kingston.
“The province needs to urgently review its targets before doing irreversible damage to the sector that will put thousands of jobs at risk”.
Fewer and fewer Canadian consumers are considering buying an electric vehicle as their next car, an AutoTrader survey showed earlier this year.
For the third consecutive year, the share of Canadians who would buy an EV has dropped. This year’s survey found that 42% of respondents say they would be considering an EV as their next vehicle, down from 46% in 2024, and down from a massive 68% considering buying an EV in 2022.
By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com
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