Americas

US Backs Canada Moving to Close Chinese Electric Car ‘Loophole’

  • US worries about China using factories in neighboring nations
  • Canada ‘will not be a back door for trans-shipments’: minister

The BYD Co. Shark plug-in hybrid electric vehicle (PHEV) pickup truck in Mexico City.

Photographer: Mariceu Erthal/Bloomberg
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The US ambassador to Canada said he’s encouraged by signs of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government closing a “loophole” that might have allowed Chinese-backed electric vehicles to enter the US via Canada, sidestepping its tariffs.

Canada appears to be discussing shutting a back door that risked letting “what are basically Chinese EVs” into the US, David Cohen said in an interview — highlighting the close attention being paid by the White House to stopping an influx of vehicles from fast-growing Chinese carmakers such as BYD Co.