U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent testifies before the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs on Capitol Hill in Washington on Feb. 5, 2026. Madalina Kilroy/The Epoch Times
U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent says Washington will not reduce tariffs on Canada after Ottawa reduced tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles (EVs).
In a House committee hearing on Feb. 5, Senator John Kennedy asked Bessent if the United States would lower tariffs on Canada to zero if the country also lowered all tariffs on the United States.
“Absolutely not,” Bessent said, adding that the United States cannot allow its northern border to be used “as a way for Chinese EVs to come into the U.S.”
On Jan. 16, the Liberal government announced that Canada would reduce its tariffs on Chinese EVs from 100 percent to the “most-favoured-nation” tariff rate of 6.1 percent on 49,000 EVs per year, following a meeting between Prime Minister Mark Carney and Chinese officials in Beijing.
Carney told reporters that the number of Chinese EVs to be included in the tariff-rate quota will increase to approximately 70,000 after five years. Canada placed 100 percent tariffs on Chinese EVs in late 2024 under the Trudeau government in lockstep with the United States.
The Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) said, in exchange for Canada cutting tariffs on EVs, it expects China to lower tariffs on Canadian canola to a combined rate of 15 percent from the current levels of roughly 85 percent “until at least the end of this year.” The PMO also anticipates Canadian canola meal, lobsters, crabs, and peas will not be subject to “relevant anti-discrimination tariffs” from March 1 until the end of 2026.
The Trump administration has taken issue with Canada’s deals with China, with U.S. President Donald Trump saying on Jan. 24 that if Canada “makes a deal with China” it would be subject to 100 percent U.S. tariffs. Carney responded that Canada isn’t pursuing a free-trade deal with Beijing.
In a subsequent post, Trump said, “The last thing the World needs is to have China take over Canada. It’s NOT going to happen, or even come close to happening!”
Trump’s latest tariff threat against Canada came days after Carney gave a speech at the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos on Jan. 20, where he criticized U.S. pressure to acquire Greenland and said middle powers should band together to resist pressure from major powers.
Trump said the next day in his speech at the WEF that Carney “wasn’t so grateful,” and added that Canada “lives because of the United States.” Carney said the next day that Canada “does not live because of the United States. Canada thrives because we are Canadian.”
Trump’s other cabinet members also criticized Canada for the move, with U.S. Transport Secretary Sean Duffy saying Canada “will live to regret the day they let the Chinese Communist Party flood the market with their EVs.”
Carney has said that the new agreements with China are targeted at specific trade issue . While in Beijing in January, he also said that he is pursuing a strategic partnership with China “that builds on the best of our past, reflects the world as it is today, and benefits the people of both our nations.”
The Bank of Canada’s latest Monetary Policy Report found that the average U.S. tariff rate on Canada had steadily risen in 2025 from 4.4 percent in July, to 5.9 percent in October, to 5.8 percent by the end of December. By contrast, the Jan. 28 report said Canadian tariffs rates on the United States fell from 2.6 percent in July, to 1 percent in October, before rising to 1.2 percent by 2026.