U.S. Automakers Retreat From Canada as Ontario Loses an Industry Once Worth 40% of Exports
Updated
Updated · The New York Times · May 24
U.S. Automakers Retreat From Canada as Ontario Loses an Industry Once Worth 40% of Exports
3 articles · Updated · The New York Times · May 24
General Motors, Ford and Chrysler's Canadian footprint has entered a steepening decline, hollowing out longtime auto hubs including Oshawa, Windsor and Oakville.
Trump's economic war with Canada is driving that retreat, accelerating pressure on U.S. manufacturers that once anchored Ontario's industrial economy.
Oshawa shows the scale of the reversal: about 22,000 unionized GM workers could have signed the last Chevrolet Lumina built there during a 1999 model changeover.
Around the turn of the century, cars and trucks—mostly from U.S. automakers—made up nearly 40% of Ontario's exports, underscoring how much the province's manufacturing base has shifted.
Amid plant closures, are U.S. automakers' new EV investments in Canada a real commitment or just a strategic foothold?
As a new $5B battery plant hires foreign workers, can Canada's auto sector transition without leaving its skilled labor behind?
With Japanese brands now dominating production, can Ontario's EV strategy reclaim its status as an automotive powerhouse?