Biden speech eases Canada's EV anxiety, a little

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Seven simple words from Joe Biden's state of the union speech have some in Canada breathing a little bit more easily this morning.

The U.S. president renewed his call for tax credits to lower the cost of electric vehicles, but made no mention of preferring American-made cars and trucks.

That is encouraging to some in the Canadian auto sector, considering the strident Buy American sentiment in other parts of Tuesday's hour-long speech.

Biden originally proposed a suite of incentives that prioritized EVs assembled in the U.S. with union labour — a plan that would kneecap Canadian automakers.

The federal government in Ottawa has been pressing the U.S. ever since to drop that condition, or provide an exemption for Canadian-made vehicles.

Still, no one is quite ready to exhale, insisting that they need to know more about the president's plan to know for sure if Canada is out of the woods.