For generations, Canada and the US have maintained good relations and a constructive trade partnership that has been mutually beneficial, particularly in the automotive space.
Gordie Howe international bridge between detroit and windsor august 4, 2026Tom Murphy / CarBuzz / Valnet
The second Trump administration upset decades of cross-border goodwill by suggesting Canada should become America’s 51st state, by launching a tariff war, by blocking the opening of a new international bridge paid for entirely by Canada, and by failing to offer assistance as nearly 1,000 wildfires ravaged Canada this summer. But Mexico helped out Canada in its time of need.
All this animus hung like a cloud this week in Windsor, Ontario, as Stellantis Canada celebrated the opening of a new battery technology center to support electric vehicles, hybrids, and extended-range EVs as part of the automaker’s FaSTLAne 2030 product strategy to restore profitability.
Blunt Assessment From An Upbeat Guy
Stellantis Canada CEO Trevor Longley and Dodge Charger R:T built in WindsorStellantis / Tom Murphy / Valnet
Stellantis Canada CEO and President Trevor Longley – an amiable and upbeat guy (pictured above, with a Windsor-produced Dodge Charger) – came to inspire the employees who will be running this new research center. Canadian and US media, including CarBuzz, came to talk with him about broader political and economic issues, including how an automaker can survive while paying significant tariffs from each side of the border.
It takes skill to answer questions like this without sounding incredibly frustrated or angry, but that’s what CEOs sometimes have to do. When asked what tariff level the auto industry could live with, if the industry can’t get back to zero tariffs, Longley was blunt.
“Well, I’m not sure whether we’ll get back to zero.”
–Stellantis Canada CEO Trevor Longley
Stellantis Battery Tech Center in Windsor, OntarioTom Murphy / CarBuzz / Valnet
Tariffs make it incredibly hard to plan for the future, especially when profits were already hard to come by, and Longley understandably struggled to find the right words. “So many of these different elements that are at play here – we’re really going to have to figure out what’s ultimately going to be the thing we can live with,” he said.
“But the reality is, we’re a flexible business,” having operated in Canada for a hundred years, back to the days of founder Walter P. Chrysler. Stellantis has 10,000 workers in Canada, making it the nation’s largest automotive employer.
Automakers Just Want Some Stability
Stellantis, as well as rivals General Motors and Ford, also with operations on both sides of the border, are in a unique and delicate position as tariffs and other disputes make it unlikely to broker a new US, Canada and Mexico free trade agreement.
Stellantis assembly plant in Windsor, OntarioStellantis
When asked what Stellantis Canada wants from a new USMCA, Longley noted how Stellantis invests heavily on both sides of the border and needs long-term stability. He said Stellantis is “in constant dialog with governments” in shaping policy that helps the auto industry.
“We want to make sure that those investments are situated in the right way to optimize what we try and do, and have a profitable, productive business. We’re looking forward to a little bit more clarity.”
A Better Bridge That Can’t Be Used
And then there’s the new Gordie Howe International Bridge between Windsor and Detroit, which should have been a symbolic opportunity to bury the hatchet. Instead, President Trump blocked the opening of the bridge because a deep-pocketed political ally owns the competing Ambassador Bridge, which is bound to lose toll traffic. Some background is necessary to explain why Canadians, arguably the friendliest people on the planet, are thoroughly fed up.
Stellantis assembly plant in Windsor, OntarioStellantis
Trump maintained that the US needed a better deal before opening the bridge, even though the US already had a sweet deal: Canada paid the entire $4.5 billion pricetag for the new bridge, including the inspection plaza on the US side. According to the original plan, agreed to in 2012 by Michigan and Ontario officials, Canada would collect all the toll proceeds until the bridge was paid off. The bridge finally opened at noon on Monday, July 27.
Dodge Charger SixpackDodge
The whole point of building another span was to alleviate the awful choke point at the outdated Ambassador Bridge, where truck drivers have waited hours in the worst of times to cross. That’s a big problem when automakers rely on just-in-time delivery of components to vehicle assembly plants – and now have to pay tariffs on those shipments, too.
While noting that Windsor-Detroit is the busiest crossing between the two countries, Longley said “anything that provides more choice and more options and more throughput across the border makes a lot of sense for us.”
However, Stellantis can’t even use the new bridge because its (heavily discounted) contract with the Ambassador Bridge authority requires all Stellantis shipments to use the old bridge. Longley did not say whether Stellantis will try to exit this agreement, so it can also use the Gordie Howe bridge.
Gordie Howe Bridge connecting Detroit with Windsor, OntarioWindsor-Detroit Bridge Authority
Longley said he hopes Stellantis, in working with both bridge authorities, will “find the steady state that makes the most sense for our business.” He also conceded those talks will “be a little bit bumpy,” but that having two spans instead of one will “be better for everybody.”
CarBuzz Insight – Why This Matters:
USMCA talks are strangled as Canada and the US bicker over tariffs, a new international bridge, and other trade disputes that extend way beyond cars and auto parts. You know something’s truly messed up when Americans have to pay a lot more money for Canadian hockey sticks and when Canadians refuse to buy American whiskey.
Tariffs are a direct tax on imported goods, generating massive new revenue for the assessing government. That’s ironic for a Republican president who wants smaller government. So much for the free market.
