Canada should block China EVs and make auto pact with U.S. says Poilievre: 6 takeaways from his landmark speech

Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre laid out an aggressive economic sovereignty plan Thursday, warning that Canada must strengthen its domestic position at home before entering summer trade negotiations abroad with a combative U.S. Speaking at the Economic Club of Canada in downtown Toronto, Poilievre argued the federal government has made Canada unnecessarily dependent on foreign powers through regulatory delays, resource blockages, and military underinvestment. He proposed what he called a “Sovereignty Act” to remove barriers holding back Canadian  resource development and infrastructure projects. “The path to sovereignty is focusing relentlessly on what is within our power,” Poilievre told the audience. “We control whether our economy is solid or fragile, whether it is dependent or self-reliant, whether we drift or whether we build.” The speech comes as Canada prepares for the Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement review scheduled to begin this July, with U.S. President Donald Trump threatening more tariffs and repeatedly making provocative comments about annexing this country. Poilievre called out Trump’s remarks about Canada becoming the 51st state as “unacceptable” but said the country should not be distracted by external events it cannot control. The leader of the official opposition resisted taking major shots at the 47th President. Instead, he argued, Canada should focus on building what he termed “unbreakable leverage” through economic and military strength. Here are the six takeaways from Poilievre’s speech on Canada-U.S. trade: CUSMA negotiating position For the upcoming trade agreement review, Poilievre outlined specific goals including ending steel, aluminum, auto, and softwood lumber tariffs. He proposed a “tariff-free auto pact” with shared protections against Chinese imports, suggesting canceling the deal Prime Minister Mark Carney made earlier this year to import 49,000 EVs in 2026 (with the quota expanding in subsequent years) as leverage. He also raised getting full exemptions for Canada’s auto sector to the Buy America rules. The Conservative leader also called for relaunching the Keystone XL pipeline and linking our defense spending to a return to tariff-free access to the U.S. market, with payments continuing only as long as tariffs remain off. Poilievre also proposed creating an all-party committee to present a united front in negotiations, though he emphasized that opposition parties maintain their constitutional duty to scrutinize the government. “We will work together where we can,” Poilievre said. “We will oppose where we must.” China is not a sound substitute The Conservative leader took a hardline stance against becoming reliant on trade with China. He called out the fundamental differences between China and Canada’s government and culture, rejected Prime Minister Carney’s new strategic partnership with China. “Now we seek no fight with China nor its people, who make up a brilliant, an extraordinary civilization,” Poilievre said. “But its government and its proxies have kidnapped our citizens, stolen our technology, interfered in our elections and pushed fentanyl into our streets. Canada should talk and trade where prudent, but never make the mistake of confusing engagement with dependency. China is not a substitute for the United States of America.” Poilievre did however support an expanded trade deal with India, where Carney is currently traveling for trade talks. Energy independence and carbon tax elimination The Conservative leader called for eliminating all carbon taxes and rapidly permitting oil, gas, and electricity development. He proposed using special powers in Bill C-5 to fast-track a new Pacific pipeline that would carry $30 billion worth of oil annually. “That one pipeline would increase our overseas exports more than the total exports that we have to the People’s Republic of China today,” Poilievre said. He also pledged removing sales tax from vehicles manufactured in Canada, while canceling electric vehicle rebates that he said subsidize foreign production. Housing and resource permits Poilievre targeted regulatory barriers blocking home construction, calling housing “the most tariff-proof industry we have in Canada.” He proposed a six-month maximum for federal permits and a one project, one review system modeled on former Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s infrastructure approach, which helped streamline environmental assessments and other parts of the review processes. Poilievre said Canada has the second-slowest building permit process in the OECD. Strategic reserves and defense spending The Conservative leader proposed creating a strategic energy and minerals reserve to stockpile critical resources for national security purposes. Canada possesses 10 of the 12 NATO-defined defense minerals, which Poilievre said provides leverage in international negotiations. On military spending, he painted a grim picture of Canada’s current capabilities. He claimed almost half of military equipment is unusable, one in three fighter jet positions are vacant, and Canada has only 300 full-time troops covering an Arctic region the size of the E.U. “Our industrial capacity is so weak right now that it takes us a month to produce enough artillery for one day of war,” he said. Poilievre called for accelerated procurement of submarines, tactical helicopters and drone capabilities, along with new Arctic bases and four icebreakers. Technology sovereignty Canada must maintain control over critical technologies and intellectual property developed with taxpayer dollars, according to Poilievre. He proposed requiring companies that export Canadian-developed IP  to repay government subsidies, while allowing venture capitalists to roll over capital gains into domestic commercialization. “Too often Canadians bear the costs and foreigners get the benefit of developing technology [in Canada],” he said, calling for bans on foreign takeovers of sensitive technologies. This story was edited with the use of NewsBox AI.