Updated Jan. 17, 2026, 4:09 p.m. ET
A key Trump administration trade official is not concerned that Canada’s decision to allow limited electric vehicle imports from China will hurt U.S. automakers, he said Saturday at the Detroit Auto Show.
“We have an enormous market share in Canada,” said U.S. Trade Representative Ambassador Jamieson Greer during a press conference.
He added: “We’ve made a decision to have tariffs on Chinese automobiles. The Canadians have now changed to a quota system, so they still have some restrictions on Chinese automobiles up there, and I think we’ll still continue to sell to that market in a big way.”
The comments came after industry groups and politicians expressed worries over the previous 24 hours that the Canada deal would give China’s fast-expanding and EV-centric automotive sector a valuable foothold in North America.
The American Automotive Policy Council and the Canadian Vehicle Manufacturers’ Association, which represent the public policy interests of Ford Motor Co., General Motors Co. and Stellantis NV in the United States and Canada, respectively, released a joint statement Friday evening warning of the deal’s impact.
The groups said they are “concerned with today’s announcement that Canada will introduce a quota for Chinese electric vehicles. Today’s action has the potential to undermine Canada’s auto sector and presents risks to the future of the integrated North American auto supply chain.
“We stand ready to work with the government on the overarching objectives of protecting the integrated North American market and supporting American and Canadian auto jobs and investment.”
Mike Murphy, CEO of the American EV Jobs Alliance, decried the deal and blamed President Donald Trump’s trade policies for provoking it.
“China just gained a foothold in the North American EV market, and it did not happen by accident. When U.S. trade policy becomes chaotic, unpredictable, and destructive, bad outcomes are inevitable. President Trump has really bungled the job when it comes to standing up for U.S. auto jobs and North American auto manufacturing,” he said.
Greer said the deal didn’t have much of an impact on the status of the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement, a regional free trade accord under a long-scheduled mandatory 2026 review by the three countries. Trump has threatened to let the deal expire, though any country would need to actively leave the agreement for it to end before 2036.
“We’re in a review period for USMCA to take a look at that agreement and see if it makes sense for America,” he said. “If it doesn’t, I will just say with respect to Canada, 75% of their GDP is dependent on trade with the United States.”
At the Detroit Auto Show earlier this week, Michigan Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer warned that a potential end to the USMCA would allow China to have a larger market share in the other two North American countries.
“When we fight our neighbors, however, China wins,” the governor told reporters Thursday, the Associated Press reported. She added in a social media post Friday night: “When we push away our friends, they work with our competitors.”
Greer, who is the Trump administration’s top trade official, said his concern was protecting American automakers from Chinese cars or other foreign-made cars.
He, along with Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee Zeldin attended the auto show Saturday as part of their “Freedom Means Affordable Cars Tour” that previously made stops in Ohio.
During their roughly 20-minute press conference, they touted the end of electric vehicle mandates and the loosened restrictions on Corporate Average Fuel Economy standards set by the Department of Transportation. President Trump’s administration has worked on “restructuring” CAFE standards from almost 60 miles per gallon to 35 mpg, Duffy said.
The lowered fuel efficiency rates caused concern among environmental advocacy groups. The Environmental Law and Policy Center said the move would “undo years of progress on fuel savings, cleaner air, and climate protection.”
Duffy said the change would allow automakers to make safe and efficient cars that consumers wanted to buy and that the CEOs he spoke to at the Auto Show agreed.
“We’ve heard from CEOs, from the leadership that they love what we’re doing,” he said. “If you think about the health of a company, and you think about their workers, those two things go hand in glove.”
The administration, Duffy said, would continue to drive down the cost to manufacture in America.
“Energy is cheaper in America, which means more dollars to invest in more plants, invest in more workers, invest in more innovations so all these policies come together to make America stronger, better and global,” he said.
In a press release, Climate Power, a “strategic communications organization” advocating for environmental causes, said the administration’s record was hurting Michigan residents and the environment.
The organization pointed to Michigan’s utility rates rising 11% since Trump took office, GM laying off 1,100 workers at its Factory Zero plant in Detroit, the end of consumer electric vehicle credits and the “ceding” of global EV market share to China.
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