Caught in the crossfire: Michigan concerned over automobile tariffs targeting Canada

Windsor, Ont. is shown through a fence in Detroit, Mich. on Thursday, April 4, 2025. (Kelly Geraldine Malone / The Canadian Press)

DETROIT — Glenn Stevens Jr. can look out his office window in downtown Detroit and see Canada. The view encapsulates historic automobile achievement between two countries despite a flowing river and international border — one that’s on the brink of being ripped apart.

“Our economies in auto between Ontario and Michigan are seamless. They are one and the same,” Stevens, executive director of MichAuto, said Friday. “We don’t even view there being a border, there’s literally a couple of bridges.”

The division between countries has become starkly clear with U.S. President Donald Trump’s automobile tariffs sowing confusion and concern in the deeply integrated North American industry.

Trump put 25 per cent tariffs on all imports of automobiles to the United States on Thursday. A White House official has confirmed that cars made under the Canada-U.S.-Mexico Agreement on trade rules will be hit with devastating duties until a system is set up to gauge how much of each finished car is made with American components. When that system is in place, tariffs will only hit the value of non-American parts.

What that will mean for Michigan is yet to be seen, Stevens Jr. said, but tearing apart the century-old relationship will not come without pain for the entire North American auto sector.

“Taking it apart is not a good thing, not just for the region’s competitiveness, but the national and international competitiveness of North America,” he said. “That’s our real fear, is in a time when we should be more competitive versus other global forces like the Chinese automotive industry, we are dismantling what is working and is strong.”

Detroit is famously known as “Motor City” and has served as the headquarters of the Big Three — Ford, General Motors and Stellantis — but ties to Canada have long been deep.

While Henry Ford was building the bedrock of the American car industry in the early 1900s, across the river John and Horace Dodge started up a bicycle company in Windsor, Ont. As a side hustle, the brothers began manufacturing automotive parts and their craftsmanship brought their reputation right to Ford. Eventually they started their own company, forming one of the most recognizable brands — Dodge.

The Ford Motor Co. of Canada was founded in Walkerville, Ont., in 1904, importing U.S. parts for assembly. The integration was deepened with the 1965 Auto Pact trade deal between Canada and the U.S.

Chris Vitale, who retired from Stellantis last December after 31 years in the auto industry, said he uses the Auto Pact as an example of “a trade deal done right.” He blames the North American Free Trade Agreement for shattering the automobile industry in the United States and Canada with the addition of Mexico and its cheaper labour.

Vitale, who is also a council member for the City of St. Clair Shores in Michigan, was at the White House on Wednesday to show his support as Trump ramped up his global trade war by announcing his reciprocal tariffs. Vitale reflects the view of many automobile workers angry about what they see as trade barriers around the world that stifle the U.S. market.

United Auto Workers President Shawn Fain has praised the automobile tariffs and applauded Trump “for stepping up to end the free trade disaster that has devastated working class communities for decades.”

Vitale is conflicted. On the one hand Vitale feels like he’s “being handed a win that I never thought I’d see in my lifetime.” On the other, “I wish Canada wasn’t caught up in the middle of this,” he said.

“(Trump’s) making the right moves in most of these other countries that are more adversarial,” Vitale said. “We don’t really even consider the Canadians to be adversarial.”

Vitale hopes “this was a shock and awe moment and negotiations are scheduled” so that Canada is no longer “catching some crossfire.”

Vehicle parts cross the border between Michigan and Ontario up to a dozen times in the making of a single vehicle. The new duties will also hit automobile parts compliant with CUSMA for aspects that aren’t American next month.

The core driver for Trump and his team is to bring back manufacturing jobs. A former U.S. official who worked under the first Trump administration said on background that the president’s team deeply believes the way to avoid the tariffs is to move everything back to the U.S. despite the significant challenges that may present.

Stock markets have been in freefall since Trump unveiled his global tariff agenda hours before the automobile duties went into place. Going forward, the official said, the question will be how much the administration stays course amid tumultuous markets, while also trying to hold onto CUSMA supply chains.

How much Americans are willing to withstand as the president seeks to realign global trade is still unclear but Michiganders aren’t happy their major industry and close relationship with Canada seem set to suffer.

Canada is Michigan’s top export market and while some residents support Trump’s larger plans to reduce trade deficits and push hard against most countries, any tariffs against their northern neighbours appears unpopular.

Like most people in Detroit, Julie Soyer has friends and family who work in the auto industry.

“I’m worried they will get laid off,” she said.

David Piontkowski said he has friends and family scared about losing their jobs, too. Tariffs can be an important tool, he said, but “Canada has not done anything wrong.”

“I never in my lifetime thought I would see tension with Canada,” he said. “It’s sad. I don’t want to see that.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 5, 2025.

Kelly Geraldine Malone, The Canadian Press