Canadian Auto Dealers Pushing for Better Access to Foreign Cars Amid Trade War

One of the solutions to the ongoing trade war with the U.S. would be to expand Canada’s Automotive Regulatory Framework and allow car dealers in the country to import more models from Europe, Japan and South Korea that are suited for Canadians.

That’s what the Canadian Automobile Dealers Association (CADA) suggested when it held a press conference in Ottawa earlier this week, calling on the federal party leaders to act decisively to protect Canada’s auto industry.

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CADA’s “Automotive Competitiveness Framework” outlines four more actions it urges the next government to take. These include:

• Bringing an end to unnecessary provincial and federal EV mandates;
• Keeping Canada’s big banks out of the business of leasing vehicles to consumers;
• Scrapping the luxury tax on vehicles; and
• Paying back dealers the money owed to them when they subsidized consumer EV purchases and then Ottawa pulled the plug on the iZEV incentives program.

“The Canadian automotive sector is in turmoil as a result of the U.S. tariffs and, while we applaud the current Canadian government on its measured response to not make this situation worse, it is clear that we are fast approaching a consumer affordability crisis as the added costs of the tariffs work their way through the different supply chains of all manufacturers and will soon be reflected in higher prices in the market place,” said CADA President and CEO Tim Reuss.

As far as importing more vehicles from other countries, Reuss gave the example of hatchbacks, which are popular with Canadians but not so much in the U.S. “By no longer requiring harmonized standards for North America, Canadians would be able to have more vehicle choices,” he argued.

CADA’s top leader said Canadian dealers are adapting to the difficult environment but remain concerned about the impact of tariffs and other economic forces on the prices of vehicles.

“Will they still have vehicles available at a price point that Canadians want to buy? What's going to happen to used car valuations? All of those things are still open questions,” Reuss said.