More than a year into the trade war, Canada’s auto sector is steering business away from the U.S. Here’s a look at how it’s adapting. <\/p>\n
The Canadian auto sector is making long-term changes to pivot reliance away from the United States. <\/p>\n
A February survey by KPMG revealed that 82 per cent of manufacturers and suppliers are adjusting their supply chain strategies<\/a> in the wake of the trade war. But now, it\u2019s becoming clearer what those new strategies look like. <\/p>\n \u201cGovernment contracts for us, we\u2019ve seen a bit of an uptick and we\u2019re hoping to pivot that business greater into the direction of defence,\u201d said Philip Turi, CEO of ITD Industries, in an interview with CTV Your Morning earlier this month. <\/p>\n ITD Industries manufactures container chassis, specialty trailers, and other automotive components. With many of its products affected by tariffs on steel, aluminum, and autos, it is relying more heavily on mobile command centres that are being sold to provincial governments in Ontario and Manitoba. <\/p>\n \u201cThis is rapidly deployable infrastructure that can be used for central command operations. We\u2019ve built helipads. If you think about drone operations, launching drones have all been done out of our trailers,\u201d Turi said. <\/p>\n While Turi admits he is nervous about the outcome of Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement (CUSMA) renegotiations, calling them \u201cvital,\u201d some of the changes his business is making will continue regardless of the outcome. <\/p>\n \u201cThose changes towards new products, they\u2019re going to carry on. We\u2019re going to continue to sell those products into the Canadian market,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n \u2018What can we do for other countries?\u2019 <\/p>\n Dave Power, KPMG\u2019s national sector leader for automotive, says this is a pattern playing out across much of the industry. <\/p>\n \u201cThe thought that even if CUSMA gets renegotiated, that we\u2019ll go back to where we were before the current trade discomfort with the United States, that\u2019s just not realistic,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n Canada currently has 15 active free trade agreements<\/a> that cover 51 countries, according to the Trade Commissioner Service. <\/p>\n \u201cThe question is what can we do for other countries outside of the U.S. right now,\u201d Power said. <\/p>\n In January, the federal government signed a memorandum of understanding with South Korea to collaborate on domestic electric vehicle manufacturing<\/a> projects. An agreement the Liberals signed with China to allow 49,000 Chinese electric vehicles<\/a> into the market at a tariff rate of 6.1 per cent is also aimed at generating increased joint-venture investment into Canada\u2019s automotive manufacturing sector in the future. <\/p>\n \u2018Canada maintained strong positions\u2019<\/p>\n