A little over two weeks ago, Stellantis announced it was temporarily ceasing operations at its Canadian plant in Windsor, Ontario, following the imposition of 25-percent tariffs on vehicles imported into the U.S. The company said the pause would last two weeks.
Those two weeks have now passed, and production is restarting this week. The automaker spent the fallow period examining and assessing the effects of the U.S. administration's tariffs.
Stellantis also said this week it is recalling more than half of the 900 workers it had temporarily laid off at its American plants in Michigan and Indiana.
The U.S. workers are needed to support production at the Windsor assembly plant, which produces the Chrysler Pacifica and Voyager minivans as well as the Dodge Charger Daytona.
Stellantis had also stopped production at its Toluca assembly plant in Mexico a few hours after President Trump imposed 25% tariffs on vehicles manufactured abroad on April 3rd. There, the manufacturer produces the Jeep Compass and the Jeep Wagoneer S.
We can probably expect more production pauses and disruptions if the tariffs remain in place for any length of time. And that's not counting the repercussions for consumers, who will very soon have to pay much more to purchase a vehicle.