Stellantis has temporarily paused production at its Windsor Assembly Plant - a major employer in Ontario - citing disruptions stemming from newly imposed US tariffs, while simultaneously laying off workers across the border in the US
The two-week shutdown comes as automakers scramble to respond to the 25% import duty that took effect Thursday.
The production halt marks one of the first direct consequences of the tariff implementation and is raising red flags in Canada’s insurance sector, particularly around commercial auto.
“This is going to cause disruption in the industry,” said Thomas Watson, president of Guardsman Insurance Services Inc. “We’re definitely going to see increases in premiums, and I would expect we’ll see claims timelines increasing as well.”
With fewer vehicles and parts being manufactured and imported, insurers anticipate delays in claims processing, rising repair costs, and ultimately more expensive premiums. Watson notes that companies forced to temporarily shut down or slow production are contributing to a scarcity of parts, which in turn could “put further pressure on businesses that are going to be struggling to make a profit.”
The trucking industry, often left out of conversations about auto tariffs, is likely to face equally severe consequences.
“The top 10 trucks in North America are all foreign,” Watson said. “So, if I’m a shipping trucking company and I’ve had to buy 15 new trucks, and they’re 25% more expensive, my base cost per load is going to increase—which is going to increase cost downstream as well.”
He warned of a snowball effect across industries, with rising logistics costs baked into every stage of the supply chain. “At the end of the day, the consumer is going to be paying a significant increase in everything just because the cost of doing business in this environment has gone up.”
For Watson and others in the sector, the concern goes beyond just insurance. “We’re facing almost a perfect storm of where you’ll see revenues decrease while expenses increase,” he said. “As a country, we need to figure out what to do with this and adjust to this reality in order to minimize the discomfort on all industries.”
