Just one day after the Trump administration announced its finalized plans for a 25 percent import tariffs on cars, and on the same day those tariffs go into effect, Stellantis announced it's pausing production at Canada and Mexico plants. CNBC reports that Stellantis will idle the Windsor, Ontario assembly for two weeks, and the Toluca, Mexico assembly for the rest of April, beginning Monday.
At Windsor, Stellantis will temporarily lay off around 4,500 workers, while the 2,500-plus workers in Toluca will have to report to the plant, but won't build cars. Stellantis will temporarily lay off 900 US workers at American plants that support production for the Windsor and Toluca assemblies.
"We are continuing to assess the medium- and long-term effects of these tariffs on our operations, but also have decided to take some immediate actions, including temporarily pausing production at some of our Canadian and Mexican assembly plants,” Stellantis North America chief Antonio Filosa said in an email to employees. "Those actions will impact some employees at several of our US powertrain and stamping facilities that support those operations."
Stellantis builds Chrysler minivans and the new Charger Daytona EV at Windsor. It's also the largest single employer in Windsor, Ontario. The Toluca, Mexico plant builds the Jeep Compass and the new Wagoneer S EV.
At this point, it's impossible to know the full effect tariffs will have on the automotive industry. Last week, we reported on a study from research firm Bernstein that car prices will increase around 7 percent as a result.
Unifor, the trade union that represents Canadian autoworkers said in a statement, "Unifor warned that U.S. tariffs would hurt auto workers almost immediately and in this case, the layoffs were announced before the auto tariff even came into effect. Trump is about to learn how interconnected the North American production system is the hard way, with auto workers paying the price for that lesson."
