A set of tariffs will go into effect on Wednesday, April 2 on what President Donald Trump is calling "Liberation Day." The goal, he says, is to liberate the U.S. from foreign products. The rollout includes a 25% tariff on imported passenger vehicles, light trucks, and select parts.
President Trump claimed in an announcement about the rollout that the U.S. has lost manufacturing plants to foreign countries.
“This is the automobile industry, and this will continue to spur growth like you haven’t seen,” Trump said. “Before I was elected, we were losing all of our plants that were being built in Mexico and Canada and other places.”
Trevor Wilhelm, a reporter for the Windsor Star, pointed out that this cross-border manufacturing relationship, particularly between Windsor and Detroit, is nothing new.
“It was almost right from the start that we were here along for the ride: manufacturing, building cars, building parts – just kind of being a part of that vital cross-border relationship,” Wilhelm said.
Detroit’s and Windsor’s auto industry relationship dates back to 1892, Wilhelm said, when the Dodge brothers began a bicycle company in Windsor. They later began manufacturing automotive parts for the United States.
A few years later, in 1899, The National Cycle and Automobile Co. opened in Windsor. While the short-lived company only lasted three years, it set the city up as Canada’s automotive capital.
Ford Motor Company of Canada was established in August 1904. Gordon McGregor, who ran Walkerville Wagon Works, signed an agreement with Henry Ford to produce the Model C.
“McGregor had to put up $125,000 in capital. He had the wagon factory, and he had to give Ford 51% of the shares,” Wilhelm said. “And after that, Henry Ford handed over the patents, and they started making Model C's here, and they made 117 in the first year.”
Another vital cross-border relationship between Windsor and Detroit was established when Chrysler Corporation of Canada was established in Windsor in 1925, WIlhelm said.
“It was massive,” Wilhelm said. “They had factories everywhere, you know, thousands and thousands of workers. And they were here for 90 years.”
Tariffs, too, have held a significant role in the story of Windsor and Detroit’s development. Different forms of fair trade agreements between the two nations for decades, Wilhelm said. Then, Prime Minister Lester B. Pearson and President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the 1965 Canada–United States Automotive Products Agreement, commonly known as the Auto Pact, which removed automobile tariffs on vehicles between the two countries.
Today, many vehicles are assembled in Windsor before traveling to Detroit, like the Chrysler Pacifica Wilhelm said the investment in Windsor’s automobile industry is ongoing.
“The Ford plant is currently expanding their plant here to make a new line of V8 engines,” Wilhelm said. “The EV battery plant has been under construction for several years, so the investment has been continuing here. At no point did anybody think, ‘Wow, this is going to blow up.’”
Trump’s plan raises uncertainty for Canada, he said.
“As much as these tariffs are going to hurt Americans, it is going to hurt Canada even more,” Wilhem said. “If these tariffs go into full effect, within a week or two, you could see plants closing, you could see people losing jobs, layoffs, so it's a scary time for people who are here.”
Hear our full conversation with Trevor Wilhelm on today's podcast.
