Trump tariffs will 'destroy' Windsor region and beyond, auto unions say
Production at local Ford and Stellantis plants has not yet been affected
Union leaders representing thousands of automotive workers in the Windsor-Essex region blasted U.S. President Donald Trump on Tuesday after he went through with sweeping tariffs that they say will wreak havoc on the local community and beyond.
Trump's long-threatened 25 per cent tariffs on all Canadian and Mexican goods took effect at midnight, despite weeks of warnings from Canadian officials and industry leaders about the potentially devastating effects on the continent's deeply integrated automotive sector.
"This is going to destroy this city and this community," said John D'Agnolo, president of Unifor Local 200, which represents nearly 2,000 local Ford employees.
"We've made it clear that this is like 2008 again," D'Agnolo said, referring to the global financial crisis that dealt a severe blow to the region's economy and triggered widespread layoffs.
The head of the union representing workers at Stellantis' Windsor Assembly Plant said it was "a rough and scary day for Canada."
"The facts are, 25 per cent tariff across the board to Canada, especially with manufacturing auto, could be devastating – not just to Canada, but to the industry," said James Stewart, president of Unifor Local 444.
As of Tuesday morning, the plants were still operating as normal, both union leaders said. But they warned that production could suddenly halt in a matter of days as a result of parts shortages. Suppliers have particularly tight margins that 25 per cent tariffs will quickly eat up, both said.
"We could be affected relatively quickly on parts supply, just like we had with COVID," said Stewart, whose members build the popular Pacifica minivans.
D'Agnolo, whose members build Ford engines for the F-150, Superduty trucks, and Mustangs, said there are more than 1,000 parts in the engines – parts that can cross the border several times before final assembly.
"So you really, really have to think about what you're doing here," he said. "Because it's going to not just destroy this community. It's going to destroy a lot of communities in Michigan and Ohio."
Canadian leaders have announced countermeasures aimed at billions in American goods, with Ontario Premier Doug Ford also nixing a $100-million deal with Elon Musk's Starlink and threatening to cut the power the province provides to northern states.
WATCH | Trudeau's full speech Tuesday morning:
Neither Prime Minister Justin Trudeau nor Ford minced words in lambasting Trump's decision to go through with the tariffs, with Trudeau accusing him of cosying up to a "lying, murderous dictator" like Russian President Vladimir Putin while forsaking longtime allies.
Both local union leaders also took aim at Trump directly: D'Agnolo said Canadians support thousands of U.S. jobs by purchasing Ford trucks assembled across the border, "and then we have a president that's kicking us right in the head, which makes [absolutely] no sense."
Stewart, like Trudeau and Ford, accused Trump of using fentanyl and immigration as a false pretense for launching a trade war.
"The facts are, we don't know what it's about," Stewart said. "He's saying that Canada stole the auto industry. We have not. We've been building cars here since 1904. We're a good paying jurisdiction. We have good benefits. We have good pensions. We have health and safety regulations that are way above standard. This isn't the jurisdiction that's taking jobs out of the United States.
"It's all a fallacy from the U.S. president. He's trying to sell a message. He knows it's not true," he said.
Both union leaders encouraged the federal and provincial governments to strike back decisively against the U.S., and urged them to support any automotive workers who are laid off in the fallout of the tariffs.
Stewart said the union is also working with the automotive companies "to do everything we can to keep our plants running in the short term."
But neither Stewart nor D'Agnolo was hopeful about the future, and the U.S. president has so far shown no signs of slowing down.
"I remember people dropping keys off at the bank for their car," D'Agnolo said of the 2008 crisis. "People losing their homes. It's going to be tough nowadays with the cost of living.
"Thinking about the mortgage you have today that you didn't have in '08 ... They won't be able to survive."
"I worry for a lot of people," Stewart said. "We're gonna do everything we can to protect them, to work with governments, to work with our companies, to protect our members. But today is a tough day."
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With files from Katerina Georgieva