Stellantis Blames Trump’s Tariffs For Temporary US Layoffs, Canada Plant Pauses — Union Says President Will Learn The ‘Hard Way’

Automaker Stellantis NV (STLA) announced plans to lay off 900 workers across five of its facilities in the U.S. and temporarily suspend operations at assembly plants in Mexico and Canada due to uncertainty about the Trump administration’s sweeping reciprocal tariffs on Thursday.

The stock was down as much as 7% in pre-market trade on Friday. 

U.S. President Donald Trump justified the tariffs, stating they would spur manufacturers to build in the U.S. and, thus, create more jobs. 

However, experts say the tariffs are inflationary and will reduce car sales and production. 

“Trump is about to learn how interconnected the North American production system is the hard way, with auto workers paying the price for that lesson,” said Lana Payne, the national president of Unifor, Canada’s largest private sector union. 

“Unifor warned that U.S. tariffs would hurt auto workers almost immediately and in this case the layoffs were announced before the auto tariff even came into effect,” she said, as per a Globe and Mail report. 

Stellantis’ plant in Ontario, Canada, which makes minivans and Dodge Chargers and employs around 3,600 hourly employees, will be closed for two weeks starting April 7, Stellantis said on Thursday. 

Meanwhile, the plant in Toluca, Mexico, which employs 2,600 and makes the Jeep Compass, will shut down for at least the month of April.

The temporary U.S. layoffs are at factories in Michigan and Indiana that supply the two assembly plants – Warren Stamping plant, Sterling Stamping plant, Indiana Transmission plant, Kokomo Transmission plant, and Kokomo Casting plant.

“We will continue to monitor the situation to assess whether further action is required,” Stellantis said in an email to employees, as per a CNBC report. “Stellantis continues to assess the effects of the recently announced U.S. tariffs on imported vehicles and will continue to engage with the U.S. Administration on these policy changes.”

The tariffs, which began on Thursday, apply a 25% charge on all auto imports into the U.S.

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney has announced that Canada will apply 25% tariffs on U.S.-made automobiles that do not comply with provisions of the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA). 

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