19 hours Ago By [email protected] (Ryan Tumilty)
OTTAWA—The roughly 4,000 workers who will be laid off at Stellantis’ Windsor assembly plant became some of the first casualties of President Donald Trump’s trade war, but they are unlikely to be the last in this southern Ontario city. While Trump sparred Canada from the worst of the global tariffs he announced Wednesday, the country’s auto industry was hit with a 25 per cent tariff, and a complicated set of rules to determine how it will be applied. Stellantis said Thursday it will shut the plant for two weeks — starting April 7 — to determine the impact.
“Stellantis continues to assess the effects of the recently announced U.S. tariffs on imported vehicles and will continue to engage with the U.
S. administration on these policy changes,” said company spokesperson LouAnn Gosselin. “Immediate actions we must take include temporarily pausing production at some of our Canadian and Mexican assembly plants.
” James Stewart, president of Unifor Local 444 which represents workers at the plant, said people in Windsor regularly cross the border for sporting events and concerts. They have friends in Detroit and feel connected to the neighbouring American city, but the Trump administration’s moves leave them questioning all of that. “It’s been really devastating, people have taken it personally to some degree,” he said.
“They see this as an unjustified attack on Canada and our jobs.” Stewart said there will be more layoffs among the city’s manufacturers who feed their products into the massive Windsor assembly plant. Stellantis also announced temporary layoffs at plants in the U.
S. Stewart said Canada buys as many cars from the U.S.
as it sells and the tariffs make no sense. “If you were going to attack an industry that was perceived as an unfair trade balance, auto isn’t where you would attack,” he said. He said his union has members who support every major political party, but he said workers here will need real support from the federal government if the shut down extends beyond two weeks, which he fears could happen.
“I don’t want to be too critical of any one party, but I can tell you this; tax breaks mean nothing if I don’t have a job,” he said. Windsor is a hotly contested city in the federal election and has already drawn visits from Liberal Leader Mark Carney and NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh. The riding boundaries have been redrawn since the last election, but Windsor—Tecumseh—Lakeshore Liberal candidate Irek Kusmierczyk won the previous riding with just a 669-vote margin in the 2021 campaign.
Windsor West NDP candidate Brian Masse had a significant margin of victory in the 2021 campaign, but had a closer finish in the 2019 campaign, with a margin of just under 2,000 votes. Masse, who represents the area around the plant, said Trump’s tariffs are obviously a major blow to the community, but he also heaps plenty of blame on the Liberals for not better preparing for this moment. “We can’t control Donald Trump, but what we can control is things around us and we have a federal government that doesn’t give a care at all,” he said.
Masse points out the Liberal government has allowed an electric vehicle rebate program to expire. The Windsor plant produced the Chrysler Pacifica minivan, including a hybrid version that was eligible for a rebate. The NDP have proposed removing the GST from Canadian made vehicles, a pledge the Conservatives have also matched.
Masse said the Liberals aren’t doing nearly enough. “Basically Ottawa’s off on its own, in its own world and meanwhile down here, there’s a high degree of anxiety,” he said. Carney responded to the tariffs Thursday with reciprocal tariffs on U.
S. vehicles. He said revenue from those tariffs would go back into the industry.
That’s in addition to a $2 billion fund he proposed last week to help the auto industry reorient and make more vehicles in Canada. Kusmierczyk was not available for an interview on Thursday, but in a statement posted online said the government would do all it could to help the industry. “Windsor—Essex is on the front lines of this fight,” he said in the post.
“Let’s stand together to fight for our jobs, our economy, our families and our sovereignty.” The Star reached out to the Conservatives to speak to a local Windsor candidate, but did not receive a response. Error! Sorry, there was an error processing your request.
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