The policy is complicated, but with one main goal
The sum total of all Trump’s moves is to make selling cars into the United States much more complicated and expensive. He does it in several different ways, but it all fits under the same theme: torture anyone who tries to build a vehicle for the U.S. market outside the United States.
One analyst lamented that this is a departure from 60 years of tradition, starting with the 1965 Auto Pact that led to Canada-U.S. free trade. Furthermore, it makes a mockery of the agreement that Trump himself signed, CUSMA, which was supposed to allow for stable, predictable trade.
“The Americans have lost their credibility in terms of being a reliable trading partner,” said Fraser Johnson, an expert on auto supply chains at Western University in London, Ont.
He said it won’t fully stall the industry, though. For starters, nearly three-quarters of Canada‘s auto jobs involve parts, not finished vehicles. But the vast majority of those finished vehicles are exported to the United States.
But Johnson said it will do real damage with little benefit to the United States, as it takes years to build new assembly plants.
“This is not good news for anybody,” he said.
