The next president of the United States, Donald Trump, has vowed to renegotiate the USMCA, and Doug Ford said it was critical to the fate of the Canadian province of Ontario. “We will work with the next president of the United States, Donald Trump, to get a fair trade deal,” Ford said.

The USMCA regulates how cars and auto parts can be transported across borders without tariffs. Under the terms of the USMCA, the United States, Mexico and Canada must confirm in writing by July 1, 2026, whether they wish to continue enforcing the USMCA.

Doug Ford said “free trade needs to be fair” and accused Mexico of trying to help China and its companies gain a foothold in the North American market. “Since signing USMCA, Mexico has allowed itself to become a back door for Chinese cars, auto parts and other products to enter Canadian and U.S. markets, which not only endangers the livelihoods of Canadian and American workers, but also destroys Canadian and American communities and does tremendous damage to our sharing economy model,” he said.

In September, the US government formally raised tariffs on imports from China, including a 100 per cent import tariff on Chinese-made electric vehicles, as well as new tariffs on Chinese electric vehicle batteries and key minerals.

In October, Canada not only imposed a 100 percent import tariff on Chinese-made electric vehicles, but also imposed a 25 percent tariff on steel and aluminum imports from China.

However, no Chinese automaker has yet exported vehicles through Mexico to Canada or the United States.