Canada and China reached an agreement last week to reduce tariffs on electric vehicles (EVs).
The first beneficiaries are likely to be manufacturers who have already obtained North American certification and are rapidly expanding their activities abroad.
According to a report by Bloomberg on Monday, which cites Bloomberg Intelligence analysts such as Joanna Chen, these include Tesla $TSLA (+0,26 %) as well as the Geely $175 (+0,6 %) controlled companies Volvo Car and Polestar.
Tesla is a major importer of electric vehicles into the Canadian market and shipped over 44,000 electric vehicles to Canada in 2023 - the last full year before 100% tariffs are imposed in 2024, the report said.
Other automakers are likely to follow quickly as the Canadian government looks to streamline the approval process.
As part of the agreement, Transport Canada will complete certification for new Chinese electric vehicles in just eight weeks, Bloomberg quoted a government official familiar with the deal who wished to remain anonymous.
A Geely spokesperson said the impact will vary by brand, but overall the change is a positive step.
BYD $1211 (-0,34 %), the world's largest manufacturer of new-energy vehicles (NEV), currently has negligible sales in Canada, but its mass-market products will also benefit from the reduced tariffs, the report said.
The Canadian government announced in a statement last Friday that it had reached an agreement with China to allow up to 49,000 Chinese electric vehicles to enter the Canadian market annually at a most-favored-nation tariff rate of 6.1%.
Under this agreement, over 50% of these vehicles will be affordable electric vehicles priced under $35,000 CAD within five years, according to the statement.
BYD has been operating in Canada for over a decade, and the latest agreement will further boost its localization efforts in the country, Shenzhen TV reported on Saturday.