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So decided the administration of Donald Trump. In the United States, imports from Mexico and Canada are now taxed up to 25%. A hard stellantis that has several factories in Canada, just on the border.
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US President Donald Trump has carried out his threat to heavily tax imports from Mexico, Canada and China, the first trade partners in the United States, with the entry into force on Tuesday 4 March of customs duties. Imports from Mexico and Canada are now imposed up to 25% and 10% for Canadian hydrocarbons. Chinese products have 20% customs duties, compared to 10% previously.
Stellantis employed on January 1, 2024, nearly 8,845 employees in Canada. The automotive group has three production plants in this country, mainly in Ontario. This is where many vehicles of the Chrysler brand have mounted. In Windsor (a stone’s throw from the city of Detroit, USA), where Chrysler Grand Caravan, Chrysler Voyager, Chrysler Pacifica, Chrysler Pacifica hybrid, come out, it’s the cold shower. Anne-Marie Provost, journalist at the France Press agency could see it.
Despite everything, they kept a little hope. But suddenly, the announcement they all feared fell: American president Donald Trump confirmed on Monday the taxation of customs duties on Canadian products, plunging the inhabitants of Windsor, a border city, in dismay.
The town of 250,000 inhabitants, installed opposite the Strait, is the beating heart of the Canadian automotive industry. And she was so far in full swing.
But that was before, before the customs threats of the American president. Today, Canadian inhabitants feel betrayed by their neighbor and fear the closures of factories and, by ricochet, many subcontractors.
Stellantis has three assembly factories in Canada. • © Scott Olson / Getty Images North America
“We are all terrified”, loose to AFP Joel Soleski, 26, worker for Stellantis, the car giant. He now says he fears to be dismissed “until further notice.”
The manufacturer is one of the most exposed to these customs rights, according to a report by the Moody’s agency: 40% of its cars sold in the United States (under RAM, Fiat, Dodge or Chrysler brands) are manufactured in both border countries.
And if Joel Soleski is very worried, it is also because his whole life is here: “I just bought my first house,” he continues. “It will be difficult if my girlfriend must pay all the bills.” On the Stellantis car park, among the dozens of workers who end their working day, anxiety and anger are palpable.
They have just learned that the American president showed all their hopes and said that Canada and Mexico had “no room for maneuver” to avoid the entry into force, during the night of Monday to Tuesday, customs duties of 25% on their products entering the United States.
Yet in Windsor, for years, we have almost forgotten that there was a border, the economy is deeply integrated and the automotive parts can cross the border up to six times before a vehicle was assembled.
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What consequences will have the increase in customs duties on the Canadian automotive industry? • © Scott Olson / Getty Images North America
2 million jobs involved in Canada
“I do not see how it could work,” said John d’Agnolo, president of the union, who represents 2,000 workers at Ford, Canadian side.
Donald Trump’s decision is not logical and has absolutely no sense, “he insists angry. The first layoffs could fall in a few weeks, said this union official. And ultimately, according to him, vehicles will cost consumers more.
In total, more than 2 million jobs are at stake in Canada and 500,000 just in the province of Ontario, the most populous in the country where Windsor is installed.
On Monday, the Prime Minister of Ontario Doug Ford again went up to the niche: “If they want to try to destroy Ontario, I will do everything to prevent them, including cutting their energy”.
“They depend on our energy,” he insisted. “They need to feel the pain. They want to hit us harshly. We are going to retaliate twice as hard.”
With AFP