Canada

I know we have a bunch of parts manufacturers. That Avro thing that Ford would trot out was fairly well publicized, even if many didn't understand what it was.

That Avro thing was also not an actual Canadian EV. It was a vapour-ware marketing vehicle. Its purpose was to show that Canadian companies could make all the components that go in to an EV, so that Ontario could try and attract foreign companies to use those component makers. IE. it was a proof of concept marketing tool, meant to try and sell sub-contracting services to foreign companies/interests. There was never an actual plan to make a Canadian EV on Fords roadmap. In a world where foreign companies/interests are increasingly xenophobic/antagonistic, that's not something that I want my tax dollars going towards -- and in a world where Canada has no home grown options for EVs, I want foreign options available at low costs.

We're literally watching whole cities burn due to climate change out in western Canada. And we're playing politics with sustainable options / clean energy projects.

Besides, like Ford's own ad references, protectionist tariffs deployed to protect an inefficient/non-innovative industry are bad. They also lead to trade wars. I see no reason to prioritize the interests of a small sector in Ontario, over the interests of the Canola farmers in Sask/Man. And you're not too clear on where that 'investment' is coming from in the second paragraph, but if it's from gov as well, that industry just looks even worse in terms of being a leech of resources -- and is almost a poster child for the sort of things the Reagan piece was condemning. IE. a non-innovative industry incapable of competing with international options, being propped up by gov investments, and protected by gov tariffs, with practically no deliverable we can point to as regular non-industry employed citizens.