Ottawa is seeking new partnerships in Japan as Chinese EVs enter Canada.
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A related report says that a record-setting number of Canadian executives are in Tokyo this week to participate in what has become the largest Team Canada trade mission in the Indo-Pacific region.
Nearly 300 people representing 175 Canadian companies will gather at the Sheraton Miyako hotel in downtown Tokyo to network with Japanese executives. The Canadians have one goal in mind: to forge partnerships in the land of the rising sun.
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Japan is Canada’s fifth largest trading partner with more than $35 billion dollars in conducted in two-way trade last year. It is also the third biggest investor in Canada. But Carney’s January agreement with China’s President Xi Jinping to remove nearly all the tariffs on Chinese EVs is raising concerns. The flood of cheap Chinese EV’s across Asia has cut into the bottom lines of every Japanese automaker.
The Carney-Xi agreement caps the number of Chinese EVs entering Canada this year to 49,000 vehicles, in exchange for lowering Chinese tariffs on agricultural products such as canola and seafood. The terms need to be renegotiated in order to extend beyond 2026.
“So basically, this fall there need to be discussions about extending the canola and other tariff relief that Canada got. And the question is, will China ask for more concessions?” Nadjibulla said, adding that she expects Industry Minister Melanie Joly to face tough questions in Japan about whether those quotas will be increased, and under what terms she will allow Chinese car companies to build vehicles in Canada.
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