Shawn Fain, president of the United Auto Workers (UAW) labor union, expressed support for President Donald Trump’s tariffs against Mexico and Canada, saying the auto industry in the United States faces a crisis.
“There is no single issue in this country that has affected our economy and working-class people and their jobs than NAFTA [North American Free Trade Agreement], the USMCA [United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement], and our trade laws, our broken trade system,” he said.
“Tariffs are an attempt to stop the bleeding, from the hemorrhaging, of jobs in America for the last 33 years,” he said. “Tariffs aren’t the end solution. But they are a huge factor in fixing this problem.”
The decision to give a one-month exemption from the Mexican and Canadian tariffs to automakers came after the heads of General Motors, Ford, and Stellantis made a request to the president.
Several U.S. automakers depend on components from other countries in their manufacturing process. The exemption would give the companies time to adjust to new tariffs and potentially prepare to shift production back to the United States. The administration has granted the exemption to any cars imported from Mexico and Canada, which come under the USMCA trade deal.
According to Fain, since NAFTA’s inception, “we’ve lost 90,000 manufacturing facilities in the United States,” which comes to “1,800 manufacturing plants per state.”
“If any nation in the world lost that, their economy would be wrecked,” he said.
The UAW president said his team has been working with the administration to find solutions to “move forward and fix this broken trade system.” The United States is the “cash cow” and the market that “everyone wants to sell in,” he said. “And we should have reciprocal trade laws.”
Tariff Impact
According to automotive data company JATO, auto tariffs on Canada and Mexico are expected to significantly affect sales in the United States.A 25 percent tariff would result in $6,250 in additional costs on a $25,000 vehicle from Canada or Mexico. This extra cost may partially or fully be transferred to U.S. customers.
Out of the 16.1 million new light vehicles sold in America last year, 13.6 percent came from Mexico and 4.5 percent from Canada.
“The Latin American nation is also the largest country of origin for cars sold by Volkswagen Group in the U.S., accounting for almost half (44 percent) of its total sales in the country in 2024. Similarly, Mexico was the second largest country of origin for vehicles sold in the U.S. by Stellantis, Nissan, Mazda, Honda, and Ford,” JATO said.
Automotive services company Cox Automotive expects tariffs to be short-lived and compromises to be worked out.
The company “estimates that there are about 63,900 light vehicles produced per day across North America, with 41,700 units produced in the U.S., 17,600 units in Mexico, and 4,600 units in Canada,” said the report.
“We estimate that production disruption caused by the tariffs could result in one-third of production being disrupted in the region within one week. This would equate to disruption of more than 20,000 units per day in short order.”
