{"id":236393,"date":"2025-10-24T07:40:07","date_gmt":"2025-10-24T07:40:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/236393\/"},"modified":"2025-10-24T07:40:07","modified_gmt":"2025-10-24T07:40:07","slug":"ottawa-rolls-back-tariff-relief-for-gm-stellantis-after-auto-production-cuts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/236393\/","title":{"rendered":"Ottawa rolls back tariff relief for GM, Stellantis after auto production cuts"},"content":{"rendered":"

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

Stellantis’s Chrysler facility in Windsor, Ont. Earlier this month, Stellantis NV announced plans to produce the Jeep Compass in Illinois instead of Canada.Carlos Osorio\/Reuters<\/p>\n

The federal government is scaling back the number of tariff-free vehicles Stellantis NV STLA-N<\/a> and General Motors GM-N<\/a> can import from the U.S. after the automakers walked back commitments to invest in Canada. <\/p>\n

According to a government source, the number of U.S.-assembled vehicles that Stellantis can sell in Canada tariff-free will be cut by 50 per cent and 24.2 per cent for General Motors.<\/p>\n

The Globe and Mail is not identifying the source because they are not authorized to speak publicly on the matter.<\/p>\n

Finance Minister Fran\u00e7ois-Philippe Champagne wrote on X Thursday night that the government was \u201cdeeply disappointed by the recent production changes announced by General Motors and Stellantis.\u201d The reduction in import remission quotas was \u201ca clear consequence\u201d under the government\u2019s auto remission framework, he said.<\/p>\n

On Tuesday, General Motors ended production<\/a> of the Chevrolet BrightDrop electric parcel van in Ingersoll, Ont., a decision that affected more than 1,100 hourly workers in the southwestern Ontario town.<\/p>\n

Earlier this month, Stellantis announced<\/a> it was shifting production of the Jeep Compass to Illinois from it\u2019s Brampton, Ont., plant, as part of a US$13-billion plan to boost production in the United States. The decision caused uncertainty among the 3,000 unionized employees already on layoff at the Brampton plant.<\/p>\n

Opinion: Canada needs to start thinking about an auto sector without U.S. automakers<\/a><\/p>\n

Mr. Champagne also shared a letter sent to Kristian Aquilina, the president and managing director of General Motors, expressing his concern about the automaker\u2019s decision to backtrack on its commitments to invest in Canada. \u201cShould General Motors secure another mandate for Ingersoll, and vehicle production increase, the government will positively consider raising your remission quota volumes in the future,\u201d said Mr. Champagne.<\/p>\n

A second letter addressed to Fiat Chrysler Automobiles Canada Chairman and President Jeff Hines similarly expressed disappointment with Stellantis\u2019 decision to cancel its production plans for Brampton. Mr. Champagne said the government would revisit the remission quotas only when the automaker moves ahead with a new product at Brampton to increase vehicle production.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey were given a bonus \u2013 a different status because they\u2019re manufacturing here,\u201d said Flavio Volpe, president of the Automotive Parts Manufacturers\u2019 Association.<\/p>\n

But, he said, \u201cWhat\u2019s the point of bonusing someone to maintain their footprint if they\u2019ve reneged on that covenant? It\u2019s not an easy thing to do \u2013 it\u2019s hard negotiation.\u201d<\/p>\n

The move curtails a key exemption that allowed the automakers to avoid paying a 25-per-cent retaliatory tariff on all American auto imports to Canada in the midst of a trade war with the U.S.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen those two companies decided they were no longer going to produce vehicles in those two plants, we thought it was wise for the federal government to pull that bonus,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThose plants have been very, very profitable and productive for those companies and they\u2019ve helped support entire communities,\u201d said Mr. Volpe.<\/p>\n

The Carney government\u2019s move isn\u2019t punitive, he said. \u201cThe hope is they will backtrack.\u201d<\/p>\n

Industry Minister M\u00e9lanie Joly previously called Stellantis\u2019 production shift \u201cunacceptable\u201d in an Oct. 15 letter and warned that the automaker had made legally binding commitments to maintain its Canadian footprint in exchange for financial support.<\/p>\n

Ottawa threatens to sue Stellantis over move to shift Jeep production to U.S.<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cAnything short of fulfilling that commitment will be considered as default under our agreements,\u201d she wrote, adding that if the vehicle maker did not fulfill its obligations, the government would hold the company to full account, including through legal action.<\/p>\n

Mr. Volpe acknowledged that the automakers are likely facing \u201cunprecedented\u201d pressure to move production to the U.S. from the White House.<\/p>\n

Industry watchers previously said Stellantis is trying to avoid the 25-per-cent import taxes from U.S. President Donald Trump that cost U.S.-based automakers billions of dollars and bungled supply chains built on decades of free trade between Canada and the U.S.<\/p>\n

But Ottawa\u2019s message is simple, Mr. Volpe said: If a company chooses to move production from Canada to the U.S., they lose their eligibility for those benefits.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think the companies should be surprised,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Open this photo in gallery: Stellantis’s Chrysler facility in Windsor, Ont. Earlier this month, Stellantis NV announced plans…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":236394,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[901,888,902,879,877,903,45,49,48,876,895,896,891,878,875,46,549,295,894,887,914,880,881,893,889,890,884,904,885,909,910,912,907,911,905,908,882,898,899,714,897,906,865,61,900,892,886,883,913],"class_list":["post-236393","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-alberta","tag-arts-news","tag-bc","tag-breaking-news","tag-breaking-news-video","tag-british-columbia","tag-business","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-canada-news","tag-canada-sports","tag-canada-sports-news","tag-canada-trafficcanada-weather","tag-canadian-breaking-news","tag-canadian-news","tag-economy","tag-education","tag-environment","tag-federal-government","tag-foreign-news","tag-globe-and-mail","tag-globe-and-mail-breaking-news","tag-globe-and-mail-canada-news","tag-government","tag-life-news","tag-lifestyle","tag-local-news","tag-manitoba","tag-national-news","tag-new-brunswick","tag-newfoundland-and-labrador","tag-northwest-territories","tag-nova-scotia","tag-nunavut","tag-ontario","tag-pei","tag-photos","tag-political-news","tag-political-opinion","tag-politics","tag-politics-news","tag-quebec","tag-sports-news","tag-technology","tag-travel","tag-trudeau","tag-us-news","tag-world-news","tag-yukon"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/236393","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=236393"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/236393\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/236394"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=236393"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=236393"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=236393"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}