(Bloomberg) -- British Columbia, Canada’s third most populous province, pulled government subsidies for people to install Tesla Inc. chargers, widening efforts to spurn US goods in a trade war with President Donald Trump.
Tesla vehicle chargers, batteries and inverters are no longer eligible for rebates as of March 12, the province’s power company BC Hydro said in a notice on its website.
“The Government of BC and BC Hydro are taking action to preference Canadian goods in our rebate programs going forward and to exclude, where practicable, US produced goods,” the notice said, singling out Tesla. Products from other US brands like Ford Motor Co. still appeared eligible via a search function.
The move is targeted at Tesla’s chief executive officer, top shareholder and key Trump backer, Elon Musk, according to BC Premier David Eby.
“It’s just for Tesla, and it’s because of Elon Musk,” Eby said at a press conference Thursday. “I think that if British Columbians heard that C$10,000 of taxpayer money was going to Elon Musk, they’d want to throw up, so we removed them from the program.”
BC’s rebates can cover as much as 50% of the cost of purchase and installation of a home charger, according to the BC Hydro page. Tesla cars were not eligible for the province’s rebates for electric vehicles because they are too expensive, Eby said.
Tesla did not respond to a request for comment. The carmaker’s shares have plunged about 40% in 2025 with sales falling in Europe.
Canada is pushing back against US tariffs with counter-tariffs and non-tariff measures like this after Trump’s threat to make the country the US’ 51st state using “economic force.”
(Updates with quotes from BC Premier David Eby)
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