BYD said on March 16 that it is considering building a factory in Canada and acquiring a Western automaker after Canada reduced tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles to 6.1 percent.
The announcement comes as Canada lowered its tariff from 100 percent to 6.1 percent in January following a trade agreement with Beijing, according to Al Jazeera. U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said the decision to allow Chinese electric vehicles into Canada is "problematic." U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said Canada would "look back at this decision and surely regret it," Al Jazeera reported.
BYD Vice President Stella Li said the company would not pursue a joint venture with a Canadian partner, rejecting the model preferred by Ottawa for Chinese manufacturers. According to Bloomberg, BYD is instead considering a wholly owned production facility, though no final decision has been made. Li described the U.S. as a "complicated environment" when asked about American plans, according to Electrive.
Research published by the Alliance for American Manufacturing uncovered direct links between BYD and China's government, military, and Communist Party. BYD received $2.1 billion in direct government subsidies in 2022 alone. A deputy general manager of Norinco Group, a state-owned Chinese defense company, serves as a supervisor on BYD's board of directors, according to research by the Alliance for American Manufacturing.
BYD Co., Ltd. is a Chinese multinational conglomerate headquartered in Shenzhen, Guangdong. Founder Wang Chuanfu has held multiple Chinese Communist Party posts. The company is subject to China's National Intelligence Law, which mandates cooperation with Chinese intelligence agencies, according to the Atlantic Council.
