unifor told it's ‘status quo’ at windsor assembly despite wild tariff ride
after enduring anxious days of uncertainty created by u...
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after enduring anxious days of uncertainty created by u.s. president donald trump’s 25-per-cent tariff threats, the 30-day reprieve announced monday, as well as a signal by stellantis of no changes to its windsor plans is as good as company autoworkers could hope for this week.
“right now, they (stellantis) said it’s status quo,” unifor local 444 president james stewart told the star. “there’s no intention of changing the investment commitments to windsor.”
stewart added, however, that so far at least, “they (stellantis) haven’t said too much.”
but having spent nearly $2 billion locally to retool its windsor assembly plant and build its north american battery technology centre, while also seeing its initial $2.5-billion investment in the nextstar energy battery plant joint venture with lg energy solution grow to over $3 billion with inflation over the past three years, stellantis has deep — and expensive — roots in windsor.
the company is also currently spending approximately $1.5 billion to retool its brampton assembly plant.
stellantis, like the other two detroit-based automakers ford and general motors, hasn’t commented directly on the proposed tariffs.
the company has instead deferred to comments from the american automotive policy council, which represents the detroit 3. the position of the council is all vehicles and parts that qualify as north american content under the rules of the usmca north american free trade agreement should be exempt from any tariffs.
pacifica models are shown at the stellantis canada windsor assembly plant on jan. 17, 2023.
dan janisse
/
windsor star
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“people are nervous,” stewart said of his over 4,000 members at windsor assembly who build minivans and dodge chargers. “we’ve had people reaching out.
“we’re trying to communicate, but we’re having the same problem dealing with the u.s. about why this is happening.
“what is the president’s message? what’s his end goal — cause chaos to get 10 per cent of what he wants?”
stewart feels the danger tariffs pose to the highly integrated north american automotive industry is much greater than just canada losing out on future investment, or large numbers of layoffs when consumers can’t afford the inflated vehicle prices that would result from tariffs.
“the worst-case scenario is the industry doesn’t make it,” stewart said. “that the north american automakers can’t survive because you can’t just say, ‘we don’t need that (canadian) part.’
“they can’t just say they need to start spending a lot of money building parts suppliers inside the u.s. by then, customers have already started buying different vehicles offshore.
“these are multibillion-dollar companies, but that doesn’t mean they have billions floating around to do this.”
prime minister justin trudeau, left, and unifor local 444 president james stewart shake hands during a meeting at the turner road union hall in windsor on jan. 16, 2025.
dan janisse
/
windsor star
while the 30-day window buys some time, stewart feels the uncertainty that’s been created already carries some costs.
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for one, automakers have had to spend considerable resources on trying to create a system on how to track and pay for tariffs on the thousands of parts that make up a vehicle and cross the border multiple times before final assembly.
“we’re not exactly sure how much it would add to the cost of a pacifica,” stewart said.
“it will end up being more than 25 per cent because of the number of times a part gets tariffed. costs will rise significantly.”
stewart said windsor could ride out a short tariff battle, but things would come off the tracks as the more expensive new vehicles hit dealer lots.
tariffs wouldn’t be applied to any vehicle already counted in inventory on either side of the border. however, once that supply runs out, industry analysts estimate the extra costs per vehicle would add up to between $3,000 and $10,000.
“we’re likely to end up with supply chain issues like we did during covid as well,” stewart said. “some suppliers are going to say ‘we just can’t absorb this additional cost’ and will stop shipping.”
stewart worries that consumers are already struggling to afford vehicles and a tariff will smother demand further. that would quickly translate into significant layoffs throughout the north american industry.
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“people could also look to offshore manufacturers that don’t have as many canadian or mexican parts and aren’t facing as high a tariff,” stewart said. “my fear is once they start doing that, we may never get those consumers back.”
stewart added trump is targeting at the wrong country in his attempt to regain lost auto jobs and balance trade.
“trade in the auto industry is pretty much split down the middle,” stewart said.
“the u.s. isn’t losing jobs to canada. they’re losing jobs to low-wage, low-cost countries like china, brazil and mexico.”
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