đ„ BREAKING NEWS: Toyota Quietly Abandons U.S. Ambitions as Canada Becomes the New EV Powerhouse âĄ.CT
Toyota didnât call a press conference. There was no dramatic announcement, no political handshake, no TV-ready ribbon cutting. But behind the scenes, one of the worldâs biggest automakers quietly made a seismic shiftâone that is already rewriting the future of North Americaâs electric vehicle industry.
For decades, the United States assumed Toyota was locked in. Loyal. Predictable. A permanent industrial pillar. But now, the unmistakable signs point in one direction: Toyota is pivoting toward Canada, and not as a temporary stopgap⊠but as the cornerstone of a long-term EV strategy that leaves Washington scrambling.
The catalyst? Nearly $800 billion in potential losses tied to tariffs the U.S. is threatening against Japanese exports.
With forecasts warning of a 21% profit decline in 2025 and raw material costs surging, Toyota faced a choice: stay in a volatile U.S. market or secure stability north of the border. And the numbers tell the storyâTrump-era tariffs alone have already drained more than $1.25 billion from Toyotaâs books.
The message was clear: the cost of staying still had become greater than the cost of moving.
As American officials erupted, accusing Toyota of abandoning U.S. workers, the company didnât fire back. It didnât need to. Analysts immediately recognized the truthâthis wasnât a political reaction. It was a survival strategy.
The U.S. has become a high-risk maze of fluctuating EV rules, unpredictable tariff hikes, and incentive programs that seem to change with every election cycle. Toyotaâs massive EV project in Kentucky has already suffered delays. Even the beloved Tacoma is being reevaluated to dodge tariff impacts.
Every month brings a new round of disruptionsâand Toyota is done gambling.
Canada, meanwhile, has quietly done everything the U.S. has not.
Ottawa has poured over CAD 6.4 billion into expanding mining for battery-critical minerals like lithium, nickel, and cobalt. Another CAD 2 billion is being deployed for processing and refining. The result? A domestic supply chain that actually meets the strict rules of the Inflation Reduction Actâan achievement many U.S.-based plants still cannot match.
Where the U.S. hesitates, Canada builds.
Where Washington sends mixed signals, Ottawa delivers long-term certainty.
And that certainty has turned Canada into the new gravitational center of the EV boom.
Ontario and Quebec have become the Silicon Valley of electric vehiclesâhome to cobalt refineries, battery cell factories, mineral processing hubs, and a growing network of EV component suppliers. Honda’s $15 billion project, GM’s expansion in Quebec, and dozens of other investments are transforming the region into a continental powerhouse.
Into this rising industrial corridor, Toyota has quietly slipped its largest long-term bets.
And that is what terrifies U.S. officialsâbecause once a supply chain migrates, it rarely returns.
Americaâs tariff-driven strategy, intended to protect domestic jobs, is instead pushing the worldâs biggest automakers toward Canada, where they can access resources, stable regulations, and IRA-compliant materialsâwithout the political whiplash.
The irony is glaring: in trying to gain leverage, Washington may have handed Canada the keys to the EV future.
Toyotaâs move signals something far bigger than one companyâs decision. It marks a turning point in the continental map of industry. A realignment driven not by ideology, but by stability, resources, and decades-long planning.
Canada is no longer just a partner.
It is becoming the anchor of North Americaâs EV ecosystem.
The U.S. remains the consumer marketâbut Canada is rapidly becoming the factory, the refinery, the hub, and the foundation.
Toyota just made that reality impossible to ignore.
And if current trends continue, Toyota will only be the first major automaker to bet its future on the stability of the North.



