A growing number of companies, including some Canadian, say they’ve been forced to lay off staff, pause production or scale back operations as uncertainty around U.S. trade policy deepens.
Since his U.S. presidential election victory last November, Donald Trump has announced sweeping new tariffs on imported goods, including vehicles and parts, from Canada and Mexico – measures he said were aimed at protecting U.S. businesses.
But the aftershocks are being felt on both sides of the border. Here are some companies that have announced workforce reductions in recent months, as businesses that rely on cross-border trade are battling in the crossfire.
Stellantis
Canadian autoworkers are facing unexpected disruptions after Trump’s latest round of tariffs.
Stellantis, one of the world’s largest car manufacturers, confirmed it will temporarily halt production at its Windsor, Ont., plant for two weeks, citing policy changes stemming from newly imposed U.S. tariffs on imported vehicles and parts.
The southwestern Ontario plant produces the Chrysler Pacifica and Voyager models, as well as the Dodge Charger Daytona.
Production will pause during the weeks of April 7 and April 14, wrote a spokesperson for the company in an email to CTVNews.ca Monday.
“This will impact roughly 3,200 employees at Windsor Assembly Plant,” the statement read.
The automaker emphasized that “immediate actions we must take include temporarily pausing production at some of our Canadian and Mexican assembly plants,” a move that will also have “an impact to several of our U.S. powertrain and stamping facilities that support those operations.”
Among those to be laid off are 900 U.S. hourly employees who make powertrains and stampings that supply the affected Canadian and Mexican plants, CNN reported on April 4.
The affected U.S. employees work at five U.S. Midwest plants in Michigan and Indiana.
Stellantis says operations at the Windsor plant are set to resume the week of April 21.
Prepac
More than 170 workers at Prepac Manufacturing Ltd. in Delta, B.C., have lost their jobs as the company shifts its production to its facility in North Carolina.
In an email to CTVNews.ca, Unifor communications representative Ian Boyko says that manufacturing processes in Delta ceased on March 14 followed by maintenance and closure activity.
In a statement to CTVNews.ca Wednesday, Prepac CEO Nick Bozikis says discussions around moving production south came well before Trump’s tariffs.
“The decision to centralize production into our North Carolina facility was the product of many months of consideration and analysis and began long before any tariff risks to Prepac’s business arose,” Bozikis said. “The closure of our Delta, B.C. facility is a necessary step that reflects the realities of Prepac today, and the prospects for the company going forward.”
Bozikis said their North Carolina facility is located closer to their largest customer base with 70 per cent of their demand on the East Coast.
“This decision was in no way a reflection on the quality of our B.C. team,” he said.
In a news release, Unifor National president Lana Payne said the union has been sounding the alarm since Trump first imposed tariffs on Canada and its workers.
“In this case, Prepac and its equity owners are using the tariffs as an excuse to redirect all their production to the U.S.,” she said. “It’s pure greed.”
The company, founded in Canada in 1979, was acquired by TorQuest Partners, a private equity firm, in 2019. Although it expanded its Delta footprint with a fourth building in 2020, Prepac also opened a plant in Whitsett, N.C., the following year.
Boyko says the company expects all workers in B.C. to be severed by May.
Eascan Automation
Eascan Automatic Inc., a Winnipeg-based robotics and industrial controls company, laid off approximately one-third of its workforce in late February, according to a company statement.
Eascan told CTVNews.ca they are feeling the impact of Trump’s tariffs.
“Every day, we have projects that were ready to move forward being put on hold by our clients,” Eascan said. “The main feedback we receive is that, due to the uncertainty of the current economic scenario, manufacturers are finding it difficult to plan or justify their capital expenditures.”
They added that many of their clients are holding off on large investments because “they can’t predict how costs will fluctuate in the near term” for production, as well as exporting.
The company reports that the cost of aluminum alone is set to rise by nearly 50 per cent, due to supplier increase and tariffs
Eascan says the layoffs impacted both technical and administrative staff – due to the sharp decline in client projects.
