TORONTO — Canadian auto industry leaders say the country has to use the Trump-induced industrial crisis to build bigger at home.
Flavio Volpe, head of the Automotive Parts Manufacturers’ Association, used a Canadian Club event in Toronto to call for an exploration into the potential of a new Canadian-born automaker.
Volpe says Canada has all the ingredients needed to build a domestic champion that could help boost the industry and show what the country is capable of, just as countries like Vietnam, Turkey and Mexico are already doing.
He says there are certainly challenges, but given the shake-up going on from Trump’s tariffs, it’s important to be ambitious in exploring alternatives.
Martinrea International executive chairman Robert Wildeboer said at the event that the rupture in the trade relationship with the U.S. is a wake-up call, and a tremendous opportunity.
He says that Canada’s domestic industry is challenged in part because critical skills like die making are in short supply, but that by working with North American partners, the industry could be producing millions more vehicles to supply local markets.
