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(Bloomberg) -- Liberal Party Leader Mark Carney promised a C$2 billion ($1.4 billion) “strategic response fund” to help Canadian auto manufacturing and strengthen a supply chain that’s under threat from US tariffs.
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Carney, who became prime minister less than two weeks ago, said a government led by him would try to build an “all-in-Canada” network for auto parts, working with industry to make more parts in the country and limit the number that have to cross the Canada-US border during production. But he gave few details on how that would work.
“On average, auto parts cross the border six times before final assembly. In a trade war, that’s a huge vulnerability,” Carney said Wednesday at an election campaign stop next to the Ambassador Bridge, which connects Windsor, Ontario, with Detroit.
US President Donald Trump said this week he plans to announce automobile tariffs in the coming days, a major threat to the highly integrated North American vehicle supply chain. Most of the vehicles Canada produces are exported to the US.
Carney called a snap election for April 28, trying to secure a mandate from voters after he won a Liberal Party leadership contest to replace Justin Trudeau. Carney and his chief rival, Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre, have been battling for votes from blue-collar workers at risk from Trump’s tariffs.
Carney also promised to “maximize” Canada’s steel, aluminum and critical minerals sectors. He pledged government funding to build transmission and transportation networks to link extraction sites to rail lines and roads, as well as a “one project, one review” system that would speed environmental assessments.
A Liberal government would prioritize Canadian vehicles in procurement in order to grow the domestic auto industry and create more union jobs, he said.
Trump’s tariffs have sparked urgency in Canada to find new export markets. China’s ambassador told Bloomberg News on Tuesday that the Asian nation is interested in expanding trade with Canada if the Canadian government drops restrictions on Chinese investment.
Under Trudeau, the government cracked down on Chinese involvement in Canadian critical minerals and technology projects. It also essentially matched the Biden administration’s tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles, aluminum and steel — prompting China to roll out retaliatory levies on Canadian canola, pork and seafood this month.