'Don't shut up': Canadian auto sector's strategy to fight Trump tariffs

A top figure in Canada's automotive sector has a clear message for fellow leaders as U.S. President Donald Trump's tariffs upend the industry: "Speak up."

Flavio Volpe, president of the Automotive Parts Manufacturers' Association, met with dozens of auto industry and government representatives on Wednesday. In a presentation at the University of Windsor, he urged them to share their stories publicly to show how Trump's trade war is hurting both Canadians and Americans.

"You do it through organizations like ours or really directly to the media, directly with your name attached, directly talking about the things that have been taboo in the past, which is, well, this policy may hurt or [we] may have to lay off some people because of it," he told CBC News afterwards.

"The best thing you can do to save the future of those people and of your clients and of your business is to talk about it," he added.

Specifically, Volpe wants them to talk numbers. "Math is important in automotive," he said. "This is not an art business. You make things for a price at a volume at a time."

He said the U.S. trade war "hurts the math, but not just for Windsor, but for Detroit," as well as "Illinois, Indiana, Ohio and down in Texas."

"As the pendulum swings in the U.S. and it starts to slow down and the resistance and the opposition to these policies start to get voiced, they're gonna be looking for math to support their arguments," he said. "And so everybody in here has to be part of that public discourse."

Volpe's comments come a day after Trump visited Michigan and signed an executive order intended to provide a "little relief" to carmakers from tariffs on imported vehicles and upcoming levies on parts.

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"The president, because he came just across the river here to do a rally, said, you know, the automakers have asked for some assistance and I'm giving it to them," Volpe said. "Well, this is an abuser who said I'm not gonna hit you today."

Volpe said the tariffs on foreign parts, set to take effect May 3, are those "that will grind the industry to a halt in both directions."

"There isn't any relief unless they're at zero," he said.

Industry representatives who attended Volpe's presentation, titled "Driven to the Brink: Tariffs and Canada's Auto Sector," said they appreciated and agreed with his message about speaking out.

"Windsor-Essex is the largest centralized hub of mold makers in the world," said Nicole Vlanich, executive director of the Canadian Association of Moldmakers. "Ontario houses four of the five world's largest moldmakers, and not [...] acknowledging that or recognizing that is detrimental because business needs to be done.

"Molds have to be bought from Ontario right now and it's not something that can just be picked up and done overnight anywhere else," she said.

Vlanich said there are "a lot of conversations" among her members right now about potentially shutting down.

"Keeping in mind that the past few years it's been, you know, an uphill battle, one thing after another," she said. "And you know, a lot of them just can't take it anymore."

Reta Youhana, the recruitment manager at E3 Works – a Windsor-based staffing agency – says most of their clients are in the automotive industry, "so they're being heavily, heavily impacted by what's going on."

She said it's a "very tough" time for employment agencies across the region. "And it's very disheartening. It's a lot of sad and hard conversations that we're having to have."

She said her biggest takeaway from the event Wednesday was "don't shut up."

"Don't stop talking about what's going on," she said. "Be loud and clear about how you're feeling. Be vocal."

She said she also appreciated Volpe's comments about putting politics aside and working with officials of all stripes.

"It's very clear that at the end of the day, we all want what's best for the automotive sector, regardless of how we approach it," she said.

But both Youhana and Vlanich said they came away from the presentation with some optimism.

"As much as it hurts, I think I've never seen this industry and this community be as united as they are right now," Youhana said.