Ford Motor Company executives stood by quietly as President Donald Trump recently argued that the U.S. doesn’t need cars from Canada and Mexico (Fox 29 Philadelphia; 2026). Later Ford CEO Jim Farley lauded the administration for always answering the phone — and delivering on deregulating fuel-economy standards. However, he argued that the president needed to do more, such as protecting Detroit against Chinese automakers, which Farley described as an “existential threat” (Rogelberg, 2026).
What does Trump think about that? He recently told the Detroit Economic Club, “If [the Chinese] want to come in and build a plant and hire you and hire your friends and your neighbors, that’s great, I love that” (VanHulle, 2026).
Allowing the Chinese to build American factories apparently troubles John Bozzella, CEO of the Alliance for Automotive Innovation. His trade group questioned whether unfair competition would result (VanHulle, 2026).
Does this remind you of language Detroit executives used in the postwar era to vainly combat the rise of Japanese automakers?
Trump doesn’t sound enthusiastic about CUSMA
Also high on Farley’s list of requests for Trump was to continue the Canada-United-States-Mexico-Agreement. This trade deal, which the first Trump administration negotiated to replace the North American Free Trade Agreement, is soon set to expire or be renewed.
“We built our entire vehicle business as an industry between Canada, Mexico, and the U.S.,” Farley is quoted as saying in Fortune magazine. “We have to get this revised” (Rogelberg, 2026).
The Trump administration may answer Farley’s phone calls, but the president quickly undermined the CUSMA in the early months of his second administration by unilaterally announcing new tariffs. And when recently asked about the future of the agreement, Trump reportedly stated, “We could have it or not. It wouldn’t matter to me. I don’t really care about it” (Rogelberg, 2026).
To make matters worse, in response to Trump’s tariffs, Canada has agreed to allow a limited number of Chinese electric vehicles to be imported. Prime Minister Mark Carney also noted that there have been talks about Chinese automakers partnering with domestic companies to produce “affordable” EVs (Canadian Press, 2026). Ontario Premier Doug Ford has called for a boycott of Chinese cars, but it is hard to see how that could have much impact (Automotive News, 2026).
Perhaps Farley thinks that Trump’s stances on tariffs are counterbalanced by his recent rollback of fuel-economy standards. Last month Farley went on Fox & Friends to say that this was a “victory for affordability and common sense” (Altus, 2025). Yet, as we previously discussed, Ford announced the discontinuance of the Escape — one of the automaker’s least-expensive vehicles.
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RE:SOURCES
- Altus, Kristen; 2025. “Ford CEO hails Trump fuel standards reset as a ‘victory’ for affordability and common sense.” Fox Business. Posted Dec. 4.
- Automotive News; 2026. “Doug Ford calls for boycott of Chinese EVs that will enter Canada under Carney deal.” Posted Jan. 21.
- Canadian Press; 2026. “Carney says Chinese EV deal an ‘opportunity’ for Ontario, auto sector.” Automotive News. Posted Jan. 18.
- Fox 29 Philadelphia; 2026. “Trump tours Ford plant in Detroit.” Streamed on Jan. 13.
- Rogelberg, Sasha; 2026. “Ford CEO Jim Farley says the White House will ‘always answer the phone,’ but needs Trump to do more to curtail China’s threat to America’s autos.” Fortune (via yahoo!finance). Posted Jan. 16.
- VanHulle, Lindsay; 2026. “Automakers seek policy, regulatory certainty as global competition heats up.” Automotive News. Posted Jan. 15.
Here in Canada there is starting to be quite a bit of support to uncouple from the American car companies. Many citizens are beginning to realize just much $ our governments have shelled out to them to keep auto workers here in Ontario employed. Meanwhile, the CEOs are licking trump’s boots and they are not committing to any further investment in Canada. I’m sure many people in my car manufacturing city would disagree with me but I welcome Chinese EVs to Canada and hope there will be further negotiations to bring manufacturing of them here. However, that will take time. Until then, Canadians need to continue spending their $ on non-American products, including vehicles. I know my next car will not be of American design or manufacture. Detroit has screwed Canada over enough and the US has destroyed goodwill and safety between our two nations so don’t be surprised to see more Canadians turn away from American vehicles in the coming years.
The biggest mistake made by former Prime Minister Harper after he helped bail out US automakers in 2008 was to quietly forgive the loans and let them continue with business as usual. Instead, his government should have demanded an increasing stake in each company over the loan guarantee period so that eventually we had enough ownership clout to begin tailoring vehicles more specifically for Canadian consumers. Instead, we lost our investment and now the car industry in Canada is being treated like a second class citizen. The Stellantis facility in Brampton sits empty. GM’s Ingersoll plant where the Brightdrop EV commercial van was being made, sits empty. Nothing concrete thus far has been forthcoming from either company about utilizing these plants again. So, where is the loyalty? Where is the trust?
Thanks for the input CJ. You mention tailoring Canadian vehicles specifically for Canadian consumers. I assume you are talking vehicle design as opposed to Canadian content. My only experience with that was during the 60s=90s when it looked like Canadians preferred to spend their money on a large austere car rather than a small well appointed one. I still SWEAR I saw a commercial for a Plymouth X-car (Concorde?) narrated by Patrick Stewart in the early 90s.
If you think Canada got screwed over by GM, you’ve got a big surprise when incomes to the Chinese communists.
It remains to be seen how the trade agreement between Canada and China will play out. For example, this morning Trump threatened a 100-percent tariff on all Canadian goods if the deal went through. The CBC News offers some background on where that leaves Canada-US relations (go here).
Kim, Canadians traditionally favoured cars that were lower cost and also smaller than what Americans bought. Content wise, yes, I would like to have seen increased Canadian parts content but also more vehicles that were decontented to bring the price down. Even using model names that reflected Canadian origins would have been nice. Potentially, the manufacturers could then have been encouraged to build or import small trucks and we could have continued production of small cars like the last gen Dodge Dart or an update of the last Chevy Sonics and Spark. These were fairly popular cars here and you still see a fair number of them on the road today.
I don’t have a recollection of Patrick Stewart narrating any Chrysler commercial but I’ll take your word for it. Incidentally, the Concorde was a Chrysler brand car, Plymouth was not given it’s own version of the LH sedans. Interestingly, the Intrepid was sold here in Canada as a Chrysler, not a Dodge.
Hmm, maybe a Chrysler Intrepid was what I saw. However, in my search I did find a couple parts manuals mentioning a Plymouth LH sedan, although Chrysler may have pulled the plug before production, like the Chrysler 300M originally going to be an Eagle. As an aside, around that time there was some glaring distortion in the US vs Canadian exchange rate, and some US dealers were buying cars from Canadian dealers. One dealer had a Chrysler Neon I was tempted to buy. It was good I didn’t as Chrysler Corp cancelled all warranties on Canadian spec cars, on the grounds they were gray market.
CJ, there were some Canadian-built models that used Canadian names like the Meteor Niagara and the Monarch Richelieu, the Acadian Canso – even the Nash Canadian Statesman.
Too bad you didn’t encourage your folks to buy a Hamilton-built ’65 or ’66 Studebaker (billed by Studebaker as “Canada’s Own Car – see the Canadian ’65 showroom brochure).
These cars were, or course, engineered in the USA and the frames and stampings l believe were all US made, but there was, of necessity, lots of Canadian content in them like the GM engines built in Ontario, the wiring harnesses from a shop in Guelph, the trunk and hood torsion bars from Kitchener, and upholstery from a southern Ontario supplier (the vinyl was made by Uniroyal in Kitchener).
Kim, lots of foreign cars were sold in Canada from the late ’40’s onwards. My parents had a ’48 Austin Devon which l barely remember, the neighbours had a Hillman, and other neighbours had a Morris Minor then a succession of English Fords. My grandfather bought a ’51 Standard Vanguard to fit his small garage which was originally built to fit a ’26 Chevy! Vauxhalls, sold at GM dealers, were popular. Then we smartened up and bought Studebakers and the neighbour bought Corvairs. There seemed to be better longevity with North American products.
When the Japanese came, they were embraced quite quickly – although they ALL rusted like the devil in a rust-belt environment.They lasted much better on the West Coast. But they got better and their heaters got better and Falcons, Darts, AMC Hornets, Vegas, Chevettes, etc., etc., all fell by the wayside. Studebaker is another separate story.
Sorry – l don’t remember a Chrysler Corp ad with Patrick Stewart either.
Does Trump operate under some assumption that Canada “stole” automobile production from the US? Nothing could be further from the truth!!
An entrepreneur from Windsor contacted Henry Ford about building Fords here, an agreement was hashed out, and in 1904 Ford of Canada began production.
Yes, Canada had agreements with the rest of the British Empire/Commonwealth that gave auto producers here an advantage over cars imported directly from the US. And yes, the factories producing American cars here – Oldsmobile, Studebaker, Willys and others exported substantial production to the British Isles, Australia, South Africa, India, etc.,and produced more cars than they would have by supplying just the Canadian market. It was business.
Don’t blame us for being a one-time British colony! So were you! We just asked for our independence nicer than you did! lol
GM’s home in Canada is Oshawa, Ontario because Billy Durant made a 15-year deal in 1907 (before GM was formed) to sell Buick engines and engineering to the McLaughlin Carriage Company who made a success of their cars produced in that city. Sam McLaughlin was a very close friend of Durant and at the end of the 15 years, Sam sold the business to GM. GM expanded the operation many times.
We had some early Canadian manufacturers like MacKay in Nova Scotia, Russell in Toronto, even the Brooks Steamer in Stratford, Ontario and Chatham Ontario’s once-popular Gray-Dort (using Dort engines from Durant’s buddy, J Dallas Dort in Flint, Mich., I think, until Dort folded). There were MANY other smaller efforts, just like in the U.S. of A.
Here’s anotber I saw once and never was able to find again= A report of a Fargo automobile seen in military marking in New York in WWII. I THINK I know the backstory too.
The U.S. has a Fearless Leader who believes himself to be the greatest businessman in the history of commerce. He has shown that he does not understand how tariffs work. Predicting what will happen in this country economically is no longer restricted to a few choices. New car sales will never be the same for domestic dealers.