Feb. 16, 2026, 9:46 a.m. ET
As Prime Minister Mark Carney lowers tariffs on imports of Chinese electric vehicles, new polling suggests that Canadians are becoming much more open to buying the cars.
More than half of Canadians, or 53%, say that knowing an EV was made in China would have no effect on their purchasing decision, according to a new poll by Nanos Research Group for Bloomberg News.
A further 15% said Chinese manufacturing would make them more likely to buy the vehicle, while 28% said it would make them less likely to do so.
That’s a big change from 2024, when 61% of Canadians said they would be less likely to buy a Chinese electric vehicle, and just 25% said it would have no effect on their decision. At that time, only 9% said they would be more likely to purchase such a product if it was made in China.
The softening of attitudes in Canada toward Chinese manufacturers comes after a year of tariffs from the US – and frequent threats of more from President Donald Trump. Canada is the largest export market for US-made vehicles.
In 2024, under then-Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Canada imposed an additional 100% tariff on Chinese EVs to effectively prevent their entry into the Canadian retail market, aligning with a US move. China soon retaliated with its own levies on Canada’s agricultural exports, including canola.
But during a trip to Beijing last month, Carney changed that policy, announcing that as many as 49,000 Chinese EVs annually would be allowed into Canada at a much lower tariff rate of about 6%. In exchange, China said it would roll back the duties on Canadian food.
Although the vehicle quota may at first get filled by more expensive options already known to Canadians, such as Tesla Inc. models built in Chinese factories, Carney’s government wants to see cheaply priced EVs gradually enter the domestic market. The pact with China includes a provision that part of the quota will be reserved for electric vehicles priced at C$35,000 ($25,700) or less, the government has said.
The EV agreement with China faces opposition from US automakers and from the government of Ontario, the province that’s home to several assembly plants. Ontario Premier Doug Ford has raised security concerns, calling them “Chinese spy vehicles.”
Allowing in low-cost Chinese cars “can open the market in terms of affordability, but it does come with its share of concerns around security, privacy and where that data ultimately goes,” said Falak Kothari, manufacturing industry leader at Marsh Canada.
“I think it’s still going to make a splash with companies like BYD and others” potentially entering the Canadian market for the first time, he said.
The government also recently unveiled a plan to bring back consumer incentives for buying EVs – as much as C$5,000 per vehicle – and promised new emission standards for the industry.
Furthermore, the government wants to see Chinese investment in Canada’s auto manufacturing sector, which is struggling to cope with Trump’s tariffs.
Industry Minister Melanie Joly said the goal is to see a Chinese company form a joint venture with Canadian firms to open an assembly factory.
“We believe that these great Canadian champions can partner with Chinese EV companies to make a Canadian-Chinese car to export it around the world,” Joly told Bloomberg News.
The Nanos poll of 1,009 Canadians was conducted online and by phone from Jan. 31 to Feb. 4, and has a margin of error of 3.1 percentage points, 19 times out of 20.
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With assistance from Mario Baker Ramirez.
