How Trump’s ‘big, beautiful bill’ impacts Canada and the clean energy push

Experts say the bill, which cuts billions of tax credits for clean energy and electric vehicles, end a brief era where the U.S. and Canada were moving in the same direction.

Spread across the more than 800 pages of U.S. President Donald Trump’s massive tax cut and spending package signed into law on Friday are measures that could have impacts on Canada, particularly on environmental and energy policies.

The “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” cuts billions of dollars in spending meant to boost clean energy infrastructure across the U.S., which building trades unions warn could result in over a million lost construction jobs.

The legislation also scraps tax credits for electric vehicles, which may push the North American auto industry further away from EVs.

Taken together, the measures effectively end a brief era where the U.S. and Canada were moving in the same direction in combatting the climate crisis, says George Hoberg, a professor at the University of British Columbia who focuses on climate and energy policy.

“It really interrupts whatever delicate momentum we had towards stronger climate policy and towards a clean energy transition,” he told Global News.

Tax credits passed under the Inflation Reduction Act during former president Joe Biden’s term for individual home solar systems, heat pumps and battery storage will end this year under the Republican bill. So will tax credits for upgrades such as windows, insulation, heating and cooling systems.

But growing concern is being raised for the impact to large-scale wind and solar projects, which qualified for tax credits even if they were to begin construction nearly a decade from now under Biden’s law.

Under Trump’s bill, the timeline shrinks. While projects that begin construction within a year of the law coming into force will still be eligible for a full credit, those that start beyond that must be fully operational by the end of 2027, or they lose out on the incentives.