Ontario Prime Minister Doug Ford says that the United States Secretary of Commerce, Howard Lutnick, has told him that imminent automatic tariffs may not apply to some finished vehicles that enter the United States from Canada.
On Wednesday, the president of the United States, Donald Trump, said he had signed an executive order to slap an import tariff of 25 percent on vehicles that are not held in the US. UU. After April 2. He promised to continue with a 25 percent rate on some automatic parts made outside the United States in May, which could lead to an eventual rate in all automatic parts.
But Ford told journalists on Thursday that tariffs on vehicles imported from Canada can be lower than Trump initially indicated.
Ford said he spoke with Lutnick on Wednesday night, and told him that vehicles made with more than 50 percent of pieces made by the United States will not be subject to rates.
Two senior officials in the Ford government, who speak anonymously because they are not authorized to discuss negotiations publicly, Toronto told CBC that they are trying to discover how many vehicles made in part in Canada would not be tariffed under that definition.
Ford said it was also informed that Canada vehicles that are made with less than 50 percent of American manufacturing parts will be tariffed in 12.5 percent, half of what Trump said Wednesday.
Despite the possibility of a softer blow, Ford said that the reduced rate is still “not good at all.”
Another officer of recent Canada-EE discussions. UU. He said that the parties have been talking about days about a potential postponement, and discussions have been positive.
“The fat lady has not sung until April 2,” said the official, who is not authorized to publicly discuss negotiations. “We hope to take it further.”
Ford, Carney says they will wait to retaliate
Since Trump began to threaten tariffs against Canada, it has been difficult to predict exactly what will be applied. He has threatened and detained tariffs several times since he came to office.
Threats have been a devastating blow for thousands of workers in Ontario, where the automotive sector is one of the largest sources of employment in the province. Some experts say that tariffs could lead to closing the highly integrated automotive sector of North America, where cars between Canada, Mexico and the United States can pass several times before a vehicle is finished.
Ford said Wednesday that Trump’s automotive rate announcement was a surprise, and that he thought it would be informed in advance.
Ford said Thursday that he would soon meet with the prime ministers and the Prime Minister of Canada, as well as with the CEO of General Motors, Ford and Stellantis.
He said he supports retaliation tariffs to “inflict as much pain as possible” to US consumers.
“I had a good conversation with Prime Minister. He accepts 100 percent,” he told reporters on Thursday, before the speech of Prime Minister Mark Carney against Canadians.
Liberal leader Mark Carney admitted that car rates brought by the president of the United States, Donald Trump, will damage Canada’s economy, but said the country “will” emerge stronger “from the commercial war. “We have to take care of ourselves and we have to take care of each other,” he said.
Carney interrupted his electoral campaign on Thursday to lead a meeting on the commercial relations of Canada-United States. At a press conference on Thursday afternoon, he said that Canada would wait until after April 2 to respond to Trump’s tariffs, but said that the current commercial war was possibly the “crisis of our lives” as Canadians.
Carney previously announced a proposal of $ 2 billion to protect the automotive industry of Canada. The “strategic response fund” would be used to boost the competitiveness of the automotive sector, protect manufacturing jobs, help workers obtain experience and build “a fortified Canadian supply chain,” he said Wednesday.
Ontario Auto Workers ‘Hark to be antagonized’
Ontario car workers have been dealing with uncertainty for months.
Union members representing the workers of the Oshawa General Motors plant met there on Thursday with the National President of Unifor to discuss a strategy to defend themselves.
“At first we were a little nervous,” said local unifor president 222, Jeff Gray, on Trump’s tariff threats, which began even before ascending in January. “But now we are fed up with being antagonized.”
Trump has said that automobile companies should transfer production to the USA to avoid tariffs, but the National Unifor President, Lana Payne, told the members on Thursday that the Canadian automotive industry “is not to steal Donald Trump.”
“If you think you can change production, factories, factories and reinvest in the United States outside Canada and think you will have open access to our market, you should think again,” he said.
Bill McCollom, president of the Union of Lear Oshawa, who creates seats for GM trucks, says he has 350 workers who would be out of business if GM moved, including about one hundred Ukrainians whose state in Canada depends on the work. Even the Oshawans who do not work in the automotive sector would be beaten strongly, he said.
“When this happened a few years ago, Oshawa basically became a ghost city,” said 2018, when the plant closed. He later reopened after the union negotiations.
Multiple workers outside the Oshawa plant told CBC Toronto on Thursday that the provincial and federal government should return the coup and do what it can to support car workers.
Chris Vavassori, who entered the automotive industry in 1995, was one of them. He said Ottawa and Ontario Doug Ford’s Prime Minister “should be throwing everything on the table” to protect Canadian works.
