{"id":217902,"date":"2025-01-17T21:57:05","date_gmt":"2025-01-17T21:57:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2025\/01\/17\/trumps-tariff-threat-stokes-anxiety-in-canadas-auto-industry-hub\/"},"modified":"2025-01-17T21:57:05","modified_gmt":"2025-01-17T21:57:05","slug":"trumps-tariff-threat-stokes-anxiety-in-canadas-auto-industry-hub","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2025\/01\/17\/trumps-tariff-threat-stokes-anxiety-in-canadas-auto-industry-hub\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump\u2019s Tariff Threat Stokes Anxiety in Canada\u2019s Auto-Industry Hub"},"content":{"rendered":"<div style=\"text-align:center\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2025\/01\/19\/multimedia\/19canada-windsor-trade-btlg\/19canada-windsor-trade-btlg-facebookJumbo.jpg?ssl=1\" class=\"attachment-post-thumbnail size-post-thumbnail wp-post-image\" alt=\"Trump\u2019s Tariff Threat Stokes Anxiety in Canada\u2019s Auto-Industry Hub\" title=\"Trump\u2019s Tariff Threat Stokes Anxiety in Canada\u2019s Auto-Industry Hub\" \/><\/div><p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-0\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Since 1988, the hulking presses at Lanex Manufacturing on the edge of Windsor, Ontario, have been stamping out door strikers, folding-seat latches, tailpipe hangers, frame braces and other prosaic bits of metal that make their way into vehicles ranging from Corvettes to Honda minivans.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">But, these days, worries about the future permeate the plant as President-elect Donald J. Trump prepares to enter the White House. He has vowed to impose a 25 percent tariff on all goods exported from Canada to the United States. In Windsor, that would ravage its lifeblood: automobiles and everything that goes into them.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cEverybody\u2019s waiting for the next shoe to drop,\u201d Bruce Lane, the president of Lanex, said in its boardroom, whose walls were made of painted concrete blocks.<span class=\"css-8l6xbc evw5hdy0\">  <\/span>\u201cIf Windsor lost its automotive business, Windsor would not survive.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-1\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Few Canadian cities are as acutely aware as Windsor of the integration of the two countries\u2019 economies. The city sits just across the Detroit River from Detroit, and Canada\u2019s maple-leaf flag often flies next to the stars and stripes there. And no industry has been interwoven across the border for as long as auto making.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-2\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cThese workers here in Windsor are more exposed to trade with the United States than anyone else,\u201d Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said at a steel plant during a recent visit to the city.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Mr. Trump, he added, \u201cis proposing tariffs that would damage not just people here in Windsor but people right across the country and indeed in the United States.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Windsor\u2019s two major landmarks are shared with Detroit: the $5.7 billion Gordie Howe International Bridge, scheduled to open this year, and the 96-year-old Ambassador Bridge, which carries about $300 million in cross-border trade each day. Of Canada\u2019s $440 billion in annual exports to the United States, only oil and gas generate a larger amount than cars, trucks and auto parts.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-3\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">But with Canadian officials taking Mr. Trump at his word that he will follow through on his threat of tariffs, Mr. Lane and others in the auto industry are already bracing for the potential fallout.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">George Papp is the chief executive of Papp Plastics, whose headquarters sits near the imposing new suspension bridge. He said his U.S. customers, mainly automakers, would simply invoke the terms of contracts he was with them and deduct the cost of tariffs from the amount they pay him. <\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cWho\u2019s going to take the hit?\u201d Mr. Papp said. \u201cMe, and people like me and companies like mine.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Flavio Volpe, the president of the Automotive Parts Manufacturer\u2019s Association, a Canadian trade group, estimated that most of his members had single-digit profit margins and that the tariffs Mr. Trump was promising would be ruinous.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-4\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The intertwining of the auto industry across the two countries was cemented in 1965 when Canada and the United States reached an agreement that effectively eliminated the border for the industry. Today, 90 percent of cars and trucks made in Canada are sent to the United States, primarily by train.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-5\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">At Lanex, small metal parts that few motorists will ever see are forged into shape by upward of 600 tons of pressure by the firm\u2019s presses. Their journeys illustrate how enmeshed the two countries\u2019 auto industries have become.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">As a small supplier, Mr. Lane does not deal directly with carmakers but sells his goods through larger parts makers. Seat-locking hooks that Lanex makes for Honda minivans are sent to a plant elsewhere in Ontario, where they are fitted with other parts and then shipped to an assembly line in Alabama that belongs to Honda, a Japanese company. Mr. Lane\u2019s factory has sent parts to Michigan for heat treating, brought them back to Windsor for more machining and then sold them to a U.S. company.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cWindsor is used to going back and forth across the border,\u201d Mr. Lane said. \u201cIt\u2019s like just like getting up out of bed in the morning.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-6\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The turmoil from possible tariffs comes at an already difficult time for Canada\u2019s auto business. Many auto-parts manufacturers have yet to see their business return to levels from before the coronavirus pandemic because of lagging car sales. In 2020, Lanex had about 60 employees working on two shifts, but it now has about two dozen employees running a single shift.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-7\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The anxiety is particularly acute in Windsor, which had a metropolitan population of roughly 484,000. Aside from cargo trucks rumbling across the Ambassador Bridge, the city\u2019s most obvious automotive symbol is a giant Stellantis factory that produces Chrysler Pacifica minivans as well as Dodge Charger muscle cars.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">A city within the city, it employs 4,500 workers, and the company said that it planned to add thousands more.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The European-based Stellantis, aided by billions of dollars in Canadian subsidies, is building a battery plant in a joint venture with the South Korean company LG in Windsor and recently spent 1.89 billion Canadian dollars (about $1.3 billion) to retool its assembly plant to make electric vehicles alongside gasoline-powered ones.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">But, like many auto makers, Stellantis is now in a slump as it struggles with the transition to electric vehicles and with competition from China.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">James Stewart, the president of the local union that represents Windsor\u2019s Stellantis workers, said he did not believe a large tariff would necessarily deal a fatal blow to Stellantis\u2019s operations in Windsor given how much the company had invested.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-8\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">But with so much of Windsor\u2019s economic well-being intimately tied to trade with the United States, Mr. Stewart said, tariffs would deal a heavy blow, including the closing of businesses, layoffs and production cuts.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cWe\u2019re a suburb of Detroit; we\u2019ve always felt that way,\u201d he said, adding that Windsor seemed to be \u201cunder attack and for no reason.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Throughout Windsor, there is confusion about exactly what Mr. Trump is seeking. He initially characterized tariffs as a way to prod Canada and Mexico into better securing their borders to tamp down the flow of undocumented migrants.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">But he also mused about making Canada the 51st state, noting that the United States was heavily invested in Canada\u2019s military defense, and threatened to use economic force annex it. He has also vented about what he describes as the \u201csubsidizing\u2019\u2019 of Canada by the United States, an apparent reference to the U.S. trade deficit with Canada, largely because of oil and gas imports.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-9\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The Trudeau government is expected to detail <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2025\/01\/15\/world\/canada\/canada-trump-tariffs.html\" title=\"\">how it would retaliate<\/a> against any U.S. tariffs on Monday, the day Mr. Trump is to take office.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">But Canada\u2019s comparatively small economy makes it difficult for the country to inflict substantial economic harm on the United States, though levies against specific products could hurt individual states. Retaliatory tariffs would also drive up prices in Canada.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-10\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Back at the Lanex plant, Mr. Lane said that, by pure coincidence, the company had been embarking on a \u201csecret\u201d manufacturing project that was not related to automobiles and that had unexpectedly become a potential hedge against tariffs. He declined to offer any details to avoid tipping off competitors.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">As part of that, three machinists in a corner of the plant were busy fitting parts into a piece of tooling.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-11\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">As for his auto-parts business, Mr. Lane said that if tariffs were applied and remained in place for an extended period, he would be reluctantly prepared to move his business to the United States \u2014 a move that would most likely leave most of this current employees jobless.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Mr. Papp, the plastics-company owner, said that even though he would oppose tariffs, which would hurt his business, he was a fan of Mr. Trump and understood why the president-elect had argued that tariffs were needed to help rebuild industry in the United States.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Regardless of what happens, Mr. Papp said, Canada and the United States will always remain unshakable allies.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cYou can\u2019t separate our countries,\u201d he said. \u201cThey\u2019re bolted together.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2025\/01\/17\/world\/canada\/trump-tariffs-windsor-autos.html\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Since 1988, the hulking presses at Lanex Manufacturing on the edge of Windsor, Ontario, have been stamping out door strikers, folding-seat latches, tailpipe hangers, frame braces and other prosaic bits of metal that make their way into vehicles ranging from Corvettes to Honda minivans. But, these days, worries about the future permeate the plant as [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":217903,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2025\/01\/19\/multimedia\/19canada-windsor-trade-btlg\/19canada-windsor-trade-btlg-facebookJumbo.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[11664,171759,740,6379,165435,171757,163575,171453,13868,164053,8510,164052,171756,5704,3487,2888,17035,52,1734,1021,128437,171758],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/217902"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=217902"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/217902\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":217904,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/217902\/revisions\/217904"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/217903"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=217902"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=217902"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=217902"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}