The “trade war” between the United States and Canada has been making news for over a week now and Canada has been quite vocal about fighting back. While Justin Trudeau has said in the past that America’s trade actions will have “real consequences”, now NDP leader Jagmeet Singh has called for 100% tariffs on Tesla products for as long as the trade tension continues.
Singh said that Trump’s trade war has been a “nightmare” for the auto workers as there could be shutdowns or layoffs and the workers are not aware if or when they’re going to happen. He said the workers are actually worried about bringing food to the table for their families. Referring to Elon Musk as the “billionaire buddy of Donald Trump”, Singh claimed that he is the driving force behind Trump’s desire to make Canada the 51st state, a report by BNN Bloomberg said.
He further added that by calling a 100% tariff on Tesla products, he is sending a direct message to Musk himself. “He thinks he can pick a fight with Canada? He thinks he can say that we should be the 51st state? We’re going to hit him back,” Singh said, reported BNN Bloomberg.
The NDP leader also said that he wants to bring back the federal rebate for electric vehicles, which ended last month. The rebate gave people $5,000 if they bought an EV. To help Canadian workers, Singh wants to raise the rebate to $10,000 for vehicles made in Canada.
What is the current situation of US tariffs on Canada?
Trump recently paused his the tariffs on Canada, which actually stopped the two countries from entering a trade war. However, the damage to the relationship between US and Canada is quite evident.
After threats of tariffs from both sides, Trump and Prime Minister Trudeau agreed on a 30-day break in the trade tensions, with the condition of taking action against the flow of fentanyl across the border. Despite this, many Canadians are still reported to be upset about the entire situation.