A Canadian who was detained in China for nearly three years warned that Prime Minister Mark Carney’s electric vehicle deal risks creating a strategic dependency that the Asian superpower can exploit for political coercion.

 

Michael Kovrig, a former diplomat who was imprisoned from 2018 to 2021, said on Tuesday that the agreement would lead to unfair competition and the erosion of Canada’s industrial base.

 

Carney announced during a January trip to Beijing that Canada would accept an initial quota of 49,000 Chinese electric vehicles at a low tariff rate, in exchange for China lowering duties on Canadian food items such as canola, seafood and peas.