By Sama Marwan,
The Canadian government has announced the freezing of all rebate payments to Tesla and has barred the company from participating in future rebate and incentive programs for electric vehicles.
Canadian Transport Minister Chrystia Freeland stated in a press release today that no rebate payments will be made until each claim is individually investigated and verified.
Freeland also directed a review of eligibility criteria for future zero-emission vehicle programs to ensure that Tesla vehicles remain ineligible as long as the unlawful and illegal U.S. tariffs on Canada remain in place.
According to the Toronto Star, Tesla submitted thousands of rebate claims in the final days of the program—equivalent to selling two cars per minute, 24 hours a day.
U.S. President Donald Trump had previously announced a series of new tariffs, most of which are set to take effect in early April, imposing steep 25% taxes on most goods imported from Canada and Mexico.
Trump announced on Monday that auto tariffs would be imposed soon, although not all of the threatened tariffs will take effect on April 2.
Canada has frozen 43 million Canadian dollars ($30.11 million USD) in rebate payments to Tesla. The decision to halt payments came just before Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney announced a general election scheduled for April 28, according to the Canadian newspaper.
