Workers at the GM Oshawa Assembly plant in Canada, which has been operating in its current form since 1953, are concerned about the uncertain future of the Canadian auto manufacturing sector. President Donald Trump has imposed a 25-percent tariff on completed cars imported to the U.S., while Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney retaliated with a 25-percent tariff on U.S.-built vehicles.
Oshawa Assembly has built a wide variety of vehicles over the years, but it currently only produces the Chevy Silverado 1500 and Chevy Silverado HD. As GM moves to build more USDM trucks in the U.S., it could impact production at Oshawa.
“This is an unusual situation to be in because we’re really in a fight with one man and his small group and his administration,” Unifor Local 222 president Jeff Gray said in an interview with Automotive News. “The history is deep, and so many families, so many livelihoods are attached to the auto sector here in Oshawa that we will do whatever is necessary to keep that production (going).”
Lance Livingstone worked at Oshawa Assembly for 31 years before retiring in 2004 and called Trump tariffs “scary” for Canadian workers. “I wouldn’t want to be a young worker right now in the plant because it’s the uncertainty if they’re going to work or not.”
“What he is doing, like these tariffs, this is going to hurt the Americans even worse than Canadians, and he needs to back off,” Oshawa employee Carl Stitt said of Trump, which is in contrast to UAW president Shawn Fain’s praise of Trump’s tariffs being good for the American worker. A few positive developments for U.S. manufacturing as consequences of the “Liberation Day” tariffs include increased production at GM’s Fort Wayne, Indiana truck plant, Nissan reversing its decision to cut a shift at its Smyrna, Tennesse plant, and Honda moving production of the next-gen Honda Civic Hybrid from Mexico to Indiana.
“One thing that we are good at doing is fighting for our jobs, and we will continue to fight to build vehicles in Canada,” Unifor representative Jason Gale said. “If [GM wants] to sell in Canada, they need to have a footprint in Canada … and we have an incredible workforce and membership, highly skilled, and we produce the best vehicles right now.”
