Liberal leadership candidate Chrystia Freeland is suggesting that she would hit Elon Musk’s Tesla with a 100% tariff if elected to replace Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
Freeland said the measure would come as part of a package of select tariffs that the former finance minister says are targeted at sending a message to President Donald Trump and his powerful supporters.
In an interview with the Canadian Press, Freeland suggested Canada implement a 100% tariff on all wine, beer and spirits coming from the United States, as well as an equally harsh tariff on the import of all Tesla vehicles.
“We need to be very targeted, very surgical, very precise,” said Freeland.
“We need to look through and say who is supporting Trump and how can we make them pay a price for a tariff attack on Canada.”
Freeland’s attack on Musk comes after the former finance minister launched her campaign on an anti-Trump message, promising to counterpunch against the Trump administration.
In 2023, Tesla was the leading electric vehicle brand in Canada, making the two most popular EV models in the country, the Tesla Model Y and Model 3.
Earlier this week, Tesla’s Chief Financial Officer Vaibhav Taneja told investors on a quarterly earnings call that the Trump administration’s tariffs have the potential to hurt the automaker’s profitability.
“Over the years, we’ve tried to localize our supply chain in every market, but we are still very reliant on parts from across the world for all our businesses. Therefore, the imposition of tariffs, which is very likely, will have an impact on our business and profitability,” said Taneja.
Freeland contends that Canada can exploit much of the uncertainty and internal debates within the Trump administration to deliver outcomes advantageous for Canada.
“One of the characteristics of the Trump administration is they like to traffic in uncertainty,” said Freeland.
“There are lots of reports about there being internal debates in the U.S. (administration), so let’s use that to our advantage. And let’s put some cards on the table and be very clear that if they hit us, we will hit them back.”
She suggests exploiting American uncertainty by publishing a list of goods Canada plans to tariff in retaliation to Trump’s tariffs.
“We need to publish it today because there’s still time. This is an existential challenge, and that will be true whether tariffs come on Saturday or whether the threat of tariffs is still hanging over our heads like a sword of Damocles and April 1 is the date.”
Freeland has previously announced that in response to Trump’s imposition of tariffs, Canada must convene an international summit of countries and leaders that Trump has threatened in one way or another, including Mexico, Denmark, Panama, the European Union’s President, and NATO’s Secretary General.
Freeland would also direct the federal government to cease purchasing any goods from American companies, only making an exception for national security purposes.