In a statement Thursday, Trade Minister Mary Ng said her government’s advocacy played a role in preventing those credits from being restricted to vehicles made by unionized workers in the US. The Senate deal announced Wednesday revives much of President Joe Biden’s tax and climate agenda, but the legislation changes the language on the tax credits to apply to vehicles made in the North American auto industry, not just USA “It took the advocacy of Team Canada to get here,” Ng said in an emailed statement. “Since the Prime Minister’s first meeting with President Biden last year, we have been relentless in emphasizing that the original proposal would be damaging to both Canada and the US, so we are pleased to see this recognized in the new version of the bill. “ Canadian officials had made a major diplomatic effort over the winter to argue that the initial version would overturn decades of integration in the North American auto sector. The Mexican government also criticized the original proposal, calling it self-defeating for the US. The original version of the tax credits, included in Biden’s Build Back Better bill, was also opposed by companies such as Tesla and Toyota, which argued it gave an unfair advantage to Detroit-based automakers and their unionized factories. The new legislation, which could still change as it moves through Congress, would allow automakers to continue offering $7,500 in tax credits for the purchase of new “clean cars” under certain conditions: they must be made with minerals that are mined or are processed in a country with which the US has a free trade agreement and have a battery that includes a large percentage of components manufactured or assembled in North America.
