The city of Windsor, Ontario, known as Canada's auto-making hub, is grappling with the repercussions of President Trump's tariffs on auto parts. Local union leaders, Pauline Ridley and Colleen Barrette, painted a vivid picture of a potential future without the city’s auto-parts makers, suggesting it would resemble a “ghost town.”
While the focus is often on large vehicle assembly plants, the anxiety runs deeper for the roughly 100 smaller auto-parts facilities that employ around 9,000 workers in Windsor and the neighboring areas. These small businesses lack the financial buffer that bigger corporations can rely on, struggling under a heavy 25 percent tariff imposed on imported auto components.
At KB Components, union chair Ridley revealed that about 100 workers have been laid off, with nearly 400 remaining in production of plastic parts used by major automakers like Toyota and Ford, as well as electric vehicle manufacturers like Rivian and Lucid. The situation in Windsor highlights the vulnerability of smaller enterprises in times of tariff-induced economic strife.
