There's growing concern that a 25% potential tariff on Canadian imports to the U.S. could be an existential threat to the country's recovering automotive industry.
He said raw materials and parts routinely pass across the border multiple times before being used in the final assembly of a vehicle. Tariffs, he warned, would increase prices, which could then slow production and eliminate jobs. Volpe argues a double-digit tariff would be"existential," with ripple effects into the U.S. automotive industry. As an example, he pointed to 2022, when Canadian truck drivers blocked the Ambassador Bridge between Detroit and Windsor, Ontario, in Canada — the busiest border bridge between the countries —
"The industry, like the American industry, has been challenged recovering from the pandemic. We're still not there from a sales and production point of view, but we have been recovering," said David Adams, president of theThe uptick comes despite two large assembly plants in Ontario, owned by Ford and Stellantis, existing in limbo, as the factories don't currently have vehicles to produce. Thousands of workers have been laid off as a result of the lack of production.