Shanghai-based Chinese online news site Guancha recently reported that In January of this year, Canada announced a policy adjustment, allowing up to 49,000 Chinese electric vehicles to enter its market annually with preferential tariffs. The U.S., after its efforts to pressure Canada with both soft and hard tactics failed, has resorted to a new round of threats.
In a recent interview, U.S. Ambassador to Canada Pete Hoekstra stated that the United States will not allow Chinese electric vehicles from Canada to enter its market. Citing so-called “security concerns related to the collection and transmission of data from vehicles,” Hoekstra claimed, “These vehicles can be exported from China to Canada, but there is absolutely no way they will cross the border into the United States, and that will never happen.” He added, “We will not open the floodgates for Chinese cars to pour into the United States from Canada.”
In January of last year, on the eve of his departure from office, the Biden administration in the United States introduced so-called “protective measures” that banned the import and sale of connected cars and key components containing Chinese and Russian technologies, and planned to impose bans on related software and hardware in 2027 and 2030, respectively. China has expressed its strong condemnation and opposition to this.
Most Canadian-made cars contain a significant number of parts manufactured in the United States. “Cars sold across borders contain 50 percent, 75 percent, of American parts. That’s the type of car we’re happy to import,” Hoekstra suggested.
Source: Guancha, March 31, 2026
https://www.guancha.cn/internation/2026_03_31_811983.shtml