Canada Matched Biden Subsidies to Win Volkswagen Battery Plant
- Industry minister reveals cost of wooing German automaker
- Government also in talks on aid for proposed Stellantis plant
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Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government agreed to subsidies that may top C$13 billion ($9.7 billion) over a decade to land a Volkswagen AG electric-vehicle battery plant, the company’s first outside Europe.
The money is provided through an unprecedented contract negotiated by Trudeau’s industry minister, François-Philippe Champagne. Canada will provide annual production subsidies as well as a grant toward the factory’s capital cost — effectively matching what the German automaker could have received via the Inflation Reduction Act if it had located the plant in the US, according to government officials.