painful toll of tariffs on auto sector becoming clear: 'all because of trump'
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u.s. president donald trump speaks in the oval office of the white house in washington, d.c. (andrew caballero-reynolds/ afp via getty images)
windsor – after seeing the plunge in profits being reported by detroit three automakers this week, an auto sector observer warns the future of the canadian auto industry is ‘unsustainable’ without the removal of u.s. president donald trump’s tariffs.
“over the long term, even a five- to 10-per-cent tariff is unsustainable,” said trillium network for advanced manufacturing managing director brendan sweeney.
asked about the future of the canadian industry under tariffs, he told the windsor star: “if that happens, it makes it unsuitable to make vehicles in canada and mexico. there’ll be repercussions in the u.s.
“car prices will rise, selection will decrease and consumers will be angry. you need that 30 to 40 per cent of cars coming from canada and mexico into the u.s.”
stellantis on monday reported a $3.7-billion loss for the first half of 2025 and general motors reported its net income plummeted 35 per cent to $2.58 billion in the second quarter from $4 billion in the same quarter of 2024.
stellantis has paid $480 million in tariffs so far this year while general motors paid $1.5 billion in the most recent quarter. gm estimates tariffs could cost the company as much as $6.8 billion this year while stellantis is forecasting between $1.6 billion and $2.4 billion.
ford motor company reports its second-quarter results wednesday and wall street and industry analysts are expecting the company to reveal its profits are also down.
sweeney said stellantis’s losses are an indicator it has more problems than just tariffs to deal with, but the fact that both ford (14.2 per cent) and general motors (7.3 per cent) enjoyed substantial sales gains in the quarter and still saw profits erode is telling.
“if we see losses of billions of dollars in profits at all three detroit automakers then we can say ‘we told you the tariff thing would be bad and it really is,’” sweeney said. “this is our first objective look at how impactful tariffs and the threat of more tariffs are on the industry.”
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stellantis said second-quarter shipments fell to 1.4 million vehicles, down six per cent year-on-year.
the company said four key factors significantly impacted the first-half results: $5.28 billion in pre-tax net charges, higher industrial costs, changes in foreign exchange rates and u.s. tariffs.
a good chunk of the $5.28 billion the company spent in pre-tax net charges is related to re-aligning itself with the north american market and will benefit its canadian operations, said autoforecast solutions vice-president of global vehicle forecasting sam fiorani.
“windsor and brampton were headed in a direction that was solidly on the ev transition,” fiorani told the windsor star.
“a lot of the money being spent today is changing the direction of products in those two plants. that new direction (to more gas-powered options) will benefit both with the direction the market is now going.”
the company saw a 25-per-cent drop in its north american sales in the second quarter compared to the same quarter last year. it delivered 322,000 vehicles or 109,000 fewer cars.
“their product has been incorrectly laid out for the market,” fiorani said of stellantis’s product offerings. “they’re in the middle of adjusting that, so we expected losses in the second quarter. they should get better within the next couple quarters into the next year.”
fiorani said stellantis’s problems are a result of it expecting a quicker transition to electric vehicles.
it was also hampered by the tightening emission standards that forced it to stop using its popular hemi v-8 engine in its ram truck lineup and the dodge and challenger muscle cars. it also eliminated the more affordable ram classic pickup truck.
with the loosening of emission standards in the u.s., stellantis has moved to reintroduce the hemi v-8 engine and offer more internal combustion and hybrid options along with its selection of evs.
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“fortunately, the company saw the shift back to ice (internal combustion products) faster than other manufacturers and they’ve been preparing to extend those programs,” fiorani said.
“with the transition of some vehicles back to ice, like the charger and ram trucks, the near-term future will look a lot better than the near-term past.”
unifor national auto council chair john d’agnolo pointed out the damage isn’t being done just by the direct tariffs on the industry but also by the input components, like steel and aluminum, that are increasing inflationary pricing pressures.
stellantis cfo doug ostermann told reporters in a conference call monday that with pre-tariff vehicle inventory evaporating, price increases are inevitable.
“profits being down doesn’t surprise me at all because of the tariffs,” said d’agnolo, who is also the windsor-based president of unifor local 200. “tariffs are costing the companies more to build cars.
“you can’t keep raising prices, so companies are eating some of the tariffs. they can’t keep doing that forever. companies won’t be as profitable. with sales up and profits not, it’s all because of trump.”
d’agnolo said the danger to the industry is those profits are needed for future investment. a shrinking pool of resources will eventually impact the competitiveness of the detroit automakers.
“these companies are always looking to the future to be competitive,” d’agnolo said. “when you don’t have the money to do that, eventually it’s going to impact the workers. he’s (trump) only hurting employees in the u.s. and canada.”
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