Latest / Auto Collabs / What Chinese Vehicles in Canada Means For The USA | Public Policy Day 2025

Transcript

What Chinese Vehicles in Canada Means For The USA | Public Policy Day 2025 · Auto Collabs

• 0:00
  On this episode of Auto Collabs, we're live at the Washington, DC Auto Show for Public Policy Day 2026, brought to you by our friends at Safe Ride.
• 0:09
  [upbeat music] All right, we're here with John Bozzella, CEO of the Alliance for Automotive Innovation at Public Policy Day 2026. Uh, this is starting to become a regular thing. I love it. I love it. Wonderful.
• 0:22
  Thanks for having me. Okay, so you have a conversation, uh, coming up soon at, at time of recording with, uh, Secretary of Transportation, Sean Duffy. What, what is going to be your...
• 0:32
  the thing you're most interested in learning? Yeah, so, you know, there's a l- so much going on in auto-related policy- It's unreal, yeah... right now. Like, wherever you look, right?
• 0:41
  There's incoming, outgoing, it's all over the place. I think a couple of things I'm gonna be interested in hearing from Secretary of Transportation. One, he's revising fuel economy rules. So what does it mean?
• 0:52
  How does it relate to things like affordability, price, choice? That's one. Two, um, technology. Highly automated vehicles, uh, uh, uh, ADAS systems, those types of things. He's working on policy there. What does he see?
• 1:07
  What's the opportunity? How does it tie into competitiveness? And, and I, I'm gonna ask him a couple of fun questions, too. Um, hopefully- [laughs] Define, define fun. Okay.
• 1:15
  Well, so, so, so things that I think are- For who?... interesting to car people. Okay, there you go. Like, like what did 16-year-old Sean Duffy drive? There you go. There you go. Back in Wisconsin. That's on.
• 1:24
  Like, that's a good one, right? That's it. Great one. Like, like, like I always... I get that question, "Hey, what'd you drive when you were a kid?" Like, I love that question. Yeah.
• 1:30
  And then also just, um, I'll just, just another teaser. We are in our 250th anniversary- Yes, we are... as a country. Wow, yeah. So- That's incredible...
• 1:42
  you know, I will, I w- I don't wanna get ahead of announcements he might make, but, you know, he's probably got some thoughts and ideas about what that means. I like these questions. Yeah. Yeah, that's very cool.
• 1:50
  So that's where we're going. That's amazing. That's amazing.
• 1:53
  I think, uh, you know, we were at your, your Merge event just a couple of months ago, and I'd love to hear, you know, the response since then, some of the conversations that have maybe come out of that, uh, with the Alliance.
• 2:03
  Things that, that because you were able to have conversations on that stage have maybe spurred the next layer deeper, uh, whether it be around China or autonomy or affordability.
• 2:13
  What, what has really come out of that since then? Yeah. Well, first of all, you don't need me to pitch you, but I gotta tell you, like, we...
• 2:21
  I thought we did a pretty good job, but the stuff you did on the sidelines of the Merge was awesome. Oh, thanks, Tom. Thank you.
• 2:27
  Like, you, you, you, you really got some, I thought, some really great insights from the policymakers that came by. So, um, but, but, but from my perspective were a couple of things.
• 2:38
  One is this for us was an agenda-setting conference, right? Like, looking ahead, looking into 2026. Uh, you know, we're in Washington, not for nothing, but it's an election year.
• 2:47
  How do we see, you know, sort of the political dynamics affecting, you know, the big automotive policy questions? And so, um, you know, again, a, a number of things.
• 2:57
  You know, what are the right policies to support not only, um, customers- Mm-hmm... and consumer choice and dealers and manufacturers, but, but also w- how do we think about competitiveness?
• 3:10
  That was a big theme, I thought, in the conference. Without a doubt. Almost in every... Right, right. Competitiveness. Are we ready to compete with China? Can we compete with China? Are we already competing with China?
• 3:21
  What does it look like around the world and here in the US? So to me, the competitiveness theme, that was kinda like a through line for the whole, for the whole Merge.
• 3:29
  Well, just in the last seven days, it's our-- it's just been announced that in Canada, we're gonna see Chinese vehicles.
• 3:35
  They're gonna bring them there with an, a ridiculously low tariff on them, under seven- It's a zero. 6% is zero. Six, six, a 6.5%, I think, or something like that.
• 3:44
  It was essentially zero compared to what was previously potentially 100%. Hundred, it was 106, yeah. Um, totally changes the game for not just Canada, but the US as well.
• 3:54
  Well, I'm sure you've had conversations ad nauseam since that moment. Yeah, it's really interesting. By the way, first, just a quick, a quick hot take on tariffs. Do it.
• 4:02
  The fact that you are saying 6% is, quote, "ridiculously low" tells you how far we've come- Right, that's true... on this whole question of tariffs.
• 4:12
  You know, the, the so-called MFN tariff, the normal tariff in the US on cars is 2.5%. Like, so 6%, that's like, like that's- Triple that... more than twice as much. Right. Almost triple. Yeah, yeah.
• 4:23
  It's like, but, but that's ridiculously no- low now, right? Because you have these, these tariffs on, on- Yeah, there's level settings, yeah... Chinese goods- Right...
• 4:30
  responsive to anti-competitive and anti-market behavior, right? That's the 100%. Okay. So what's going on over there? Well, first, let's put it in a little bit of context. It's 49,000 units, right? Yeah. Right.
• 4:41
  In a couple of million unit market. So it's, it's, it, they didn't fling the doors open and say- Right... "Let's see what happens." It's a test bed. Sure. It's, I think that's right.
• 4:50
  I think there are a number of things going on, right? Um, and I don't speak for the Canadian government, and I'm, I'm not trying to convey that I know what they're up to.
• 4:59
  You know, but look, there are a number of things going on, right? They, they, there, there are, it's a very challenging and complex world out there.
• 5:09
  Um, you know, the two big gorillas in the automotive space are China and the US, and I think you're gonna see a lot of this sort of, "How do I navigate," you know- Yeah... th- this, right?
• 5:21
  And so, you know, look, some of this might just be positioning. You know, there's gonna be... We're at the beginning of a review of USMCA, right? The- That's right... the North American Free Trade Agreement.
• 5:30
  Well, that came up as, like, potentially, like- Yeah... jeopardizing the negotiating position- Yeah... because that is the case right now. Right. Uh, let me change, change, uh, trajectory just a little bit.
• 5:39
  The NADA show is coming up here. Uh, in two weeks from today- Wow... we'll be just about done- Oh, my goodness... with the NADA show. So it's right here.
• 5:46
  Um, what are you looking forward to when, and what do you typically do when you go to the show every year? Yeah.
• 5:51
  So, so first, the first thing I do when I go to the show is I check in with, with my friend, my good friend and, and partner, Mike Stanton. Um, I love his show.
• 6:01
  I love the, uh, what he does, and, and, and I, I have a, a high degree of personal respect for Mike. And, um, you know, we try to have the following sort of approach.
• 6:12
  Like, let's work together when we can, and when we can't, let's not surprise each other. So in the nature- [laughs] I like that... of not surprising each other- Hmm. I check in. That's good.
• 6:19
  I like, what are you, what's, what's your, what are your themes? What are you trying to work on? And, and Mike usually has a couple of assignments for me, you know? So I, I will take the, take him up on those.
• 6:28
  [laughs] We understand how that feels. We get that. We get that, yeah.
• 6:30
  You know, I'll sit, I'll sit down, you know, I'll sit down with, uh, the state dealer association executives and, you know, I'll visit with key dealers and also our manufacturer members who are of course showing at the show.
• 6:41
  So that's kinda what, the way it works for me. Nice. Got it. Well, we'll be there. We'll hopefully get to shake your hand and, uh- Fantastic...
• 6:46
  thanks for spending a couple ti- minutes with us today and always answering, uh, you know, some challenging questions. [laughs] So I appreciate it.
• 6:53
  Well, I hope they weren't complete non-answers, and I love the work you do.
• 6:56
  Um, and, uh, you know, I just, uh, I'm, I'm thrilled because you ask great questions and, uh, I know the people who listen to you get a lot out of it, so thank you. Thank you. We're gonna keep it up.