By Dana Hull, Gabrielle Coppola and Mark Chediak, Bloomberg<\/p>\n
California\u2019s top environmental regulator lauded a trade deal Canada struck to import electric cars from China<\/a> as a win in the global effort to replace gas vehicles.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m excited to see what unfolds in Canada now after you see what the prime minister announced,\u201d California Air Resources Board chair Lauren\u00a0Sanchez said Tuesday during a\u00a0BloombergNEF summit in San Francisco. \u201cIt only reinforces that the Trump administration is going it alone.\u201d<\/p>\n RELATED:\u00a0Tesla lost the most share last year in EV-stronghold California<\/a><\/p>\n China and Canada reached a wide-ranging agreement to lower trade barriers and rebuild ties earlier this month, signaling a pivot in Canadian foreign policy and a break from alignment with President\u00a0Donald Trump\u2019s trade agenda.\u00a0Canada\u2019s Prime Minister Mark Carney\u00a0agreed to allow\u00a049,000 Chinese electric vehicles<\/a> into its market at a tariff rate of about 6%, removing a 100% surtax,\u00a0\u00a0in response to Chinese leader Xi Jinping cutting tariffs on canola, a key Canadian agricultural export.\u00a0The move sent shockwaves through the US auto industry, where executives fear Canada could become a back door to the US market for cheap Chinese cars, and prompted\u00a0Trump to threaten a 100% tariff on Canadian exports to the US.<\/p>\n In California, Sanchez is fighting to sustain support for EV adoption. The Trump administration and Congress attempted to strip the California Air Resources Board of its authority to regulate emissions, rolled back stringent fuel-economy rules that pushed automakers to electrify their lineups, and defunded a federal $7,500 incentive to buy zero-emission vehicles that has existed for more than a decade.<\/p>\n Sales of electric vehicles plummeted\u00a0in the fourth quarter amid the end of the federal tax credit, concerns about affordability and growing consumer interest in hybrid vehicles. Sanchez said the recent drop in US EV sales is the result of the Trump administration\u2019s \u201ctargeted attacks\u201d on battery-powered cars, and that California is forging ahead with a $200 million investment to sustain consumer incentives in the state, the biggest car market in the US.<\/p>\n