Justin Trudeau warned that U.S. tariffs on Canada’s auto sector could push Ottawa toward China, comparing the moment to Bombardier’s C-Series battle.
Former prime minister Justin Trudeau is warning that U.S. tariffs and economic pressure on Canadian industries could push Canada toward closer ties with China, including in the auto sector.
Speaking at a CNBC event in Singapore on Thursday, Trudeau drew a parallel to Bombardier’s C-Series aircraft program nearly a decade ago, saying “economic pressures and coercion” nearly drove the Canadian aerospace company “into China’s arms.”
The warning comes amid a sharp trade backdrop. Canada imposed 100 per cent tariffs on Chinese-made electric vehicles in 2024, matching a U.S. move and citing unfair trade practices. In 2025, U.S. President Donald Trump imposed heavy duties on Canada’s auto sector. After a January meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping, Prime Minister Mark Carney secured tariff relief for Canadian agricultural sectors in exchange for allowing up to 49,000 Chinese EVs into Canada at a reduced tariff rate of 6.1 per cent.
Trudeau said Bombardier struggled when Boeing and Airbus worked to discourage customers from ordering its C-Series jets. He said China then appeared with financial support while Western competitors were trying to keep Bombardier from gaining ground.
Trudeau said he raised the Bombardier issue at the 2017 G7 summit in Italy with Trump, French President Emmanuel Macron and then-German chancellor Angela Merkel. Airbus later acquired a majority stake in the C-Series program, a development Trudeau attributed to those discussions. The Bombardier-developed aircraft was later renamed the Airbus A220.
His broader argument was that aggressive competition among countries that are supposed to be aligned can create strategic openings for countries outside that circle.
“We’re seeing a similar thing happen right now with President Trump,” Trudeau said. “Threatening the Canadian auto industry, where we’re now having to look at working with China because the American industry doesn’t want to work with us anymore.”
The remarks frame Canada’s auto trade dispute with the United States not only as an economic fight, but as a strategic risk. What remains unclear from Trudeau’s comments is how far Canada could move toward deeper auto-sector ties with China, or how Washington will respond as tariff tensions continue.
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