Canada has frozen all rebate payments for Tesla (TSLA.O), opens new tab and banned the electric-vehicle maker from future EV rebate programs, Transport Minister Chrystia Freeland said on Tuesday.
No rebate payments will be made until each claim is individually investigated and determined to be valid, Freeland said in an emailed statement shared by her office.
Freeland also directed the transport department to revise eligibility requirements for future iZEV programs to ensure that Tesla vehicles are not eligible as long as the “illegitimate and illegal U.S. tariffs are imposed against Canada.”
Tesla did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.
U.S. President Donald Trump has imposed a slew of new tariffs, with the bulk due in early April, in the form of steep 25% taxes on most goods from Canada and Mexico.
Trump on Monday said automobile tariffs are coming soon, although not all of his threatened levies would be enforced on April 2.
Canada has frozen C$43 million ($30.11 million) of rebate payments for Tesla. The order to stop the payments came before Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney announced a general election on April 28, according to the Toronto Star, which reported the news earlier.
