Full Breakdown
Pierre Poilievre Pushes New Auto-Trade Framework on Detroit Visit
By Drooid · · How we work
Core Event: Detroit and Windsor Tour
Conservative Party leader Pierre Poilievre travelled from Windsor, Ontario, to Detroit, Michigan, on Tuesday to promote a proposed “real deal” for Canada-U.S. automobile trade. In Windsor he met with the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, then crossed the border to visit the General Motors assembly plant in Detroit and the Ford Rouge facility in Dearborn. The tour is timed less than a month before the U.S. midterm elections.
Plan Mechanics and Production Projections
Poilievre’s proposal ties duty-free market access to the value of vehicles each automaker produces in the two countries. He argues that “the more an automaker makes in Canada, the more it could sell in Canada. The more it makes in the U.S., the more it could sell in the U.S.” According to Poilievre, this rule would spur an additional 500,000-800,000 automobiles over the next ten years and raise total Canadian vehicle production to about two million units, up from the current 1.2 million. The plan also calls for eliminating the Goods and Services Tax on Canadian-made cars, and for banning vehicles that contain “Chinese and Russian-connected software,” which he says threatens surveillance and control.
Official Reactions
U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer told CBC that a “big gap” exists in U.S. manufacturing employment, with autos a major component, implying the proposal could address that shortfall. Republican Senate candidate Mike Rogers recently denounced former President Donald Trump’s trade war, despite prior alignment with Trump, suggesting political sensitivity around any new bilateral trade initiative.
Verbatim Quotes
- “They would win and we would win,” — Poilievre. Poilievre’s
- “Canadians and Americans should know that their automobiles are free from dangerous technology that surveils and controls them” — Poilievre. Taking
- “The more an automaker makes in Canada, the more it could sell in Canada. The more it makes in the U.S., the more it could sell in the U.S.,” — Pierre Poilievre