US-Canada trade war tests deep manufacturing ties between Detroit and Windsor
VITAL CROSS-BORDER SUPPLY CHAINS
Detroit remains one of the centres of North America’s automotive industry, with the region producing more than 1.7 million vehicles a year.
Many of the parts and materials used in those vehicles come from Canada.
The Canada Border Services Agency describes Windsor-Detroit as the country’s most important trade corridor, carrying about 30 per cent of Canada-US trade by truck.
One Detroit aluminium supplier, which asked not to be named, said the trade dispute was making it more difficult to do business across the border.
The company has been supplying manufacturers for more than 75 years.
“We’ve always had a good relationship with a lot of Canadian aluminium mills. And it’s becoming more difficult from a price point to work with them,” a representative told CNA.
Its biggest concern is what happens if tariffs make it increasingly difficult to source the materials it needs.
“Best-case scenario, I would say, we go back to the good old days. We forget any of this ever happened,” the representative added.
“Worst-case scenario is everything dries up. Eventually, it might come to the point where we cannot source a lot of our material that we rely on.”
