Follow along Friday for live tariff updates and analysis from across the Star newsroom.
Here’s a look at Thursday’s headlines:
Mark Carney hits back at Donald Trump’s tariffs, targetting $35B worth of U.S. vehicles
Canada struck back against the United States with a retaliatory counter-tariff punch on $35 billion worth of American vehicles shipped for sale into Canada as the fallout of President Donald Trump’s sweeping new trade measures walloped stock markets and rattled relations around the world.
The day after Trump flipped the table on the global trading order and hit more than 180 countries and territories — big and small, allies and rivals alike — with punishing tariffs of 10 to 50 per cent, Prime Minister Mark Carney said the Trump tariffs “will rupture the global economy and adversely affect global economic growth” likely causing a recession in the U.S. which could bleed into Canada.
Carney walked a fine line between striking back against Trump’s newly-imposed auto tariffs on Canada with matching retaliatory duties on American vehicles imported into Canada, and angling for a more advantageous re-set of the Canada-U.S. relationship while he courts allies elsewhere.
Canada’s duties will hike costs on Canadian importers and consumers, and raise about $8 billion in revenue which Carney said would be poured back into supports for the thousands of workers hit by what he called Trump’s “unjustified, unwarranted and…misguided” tariffs.
Read the full story from Tonda MacCharles, Alex Ballingall and Josh Rubin
About 6,000 autoworkers receive layoff notices as Stellantis announces two-week shutdown of Windsor plant
Donald Trump’s trade war just landed a body blow in Windsor, and industry insiders warn that it’s just the start of what could turn into a shutdown of the entire North American auto sector.
Auto manufacturer Stellantis informed its local union late Wednesday that it would be shutting down its Windsor assembly plant for two weeks starting April 7 putting up to 4,500 people out of work, and that “more changes to the schedule (are) expected in coming weeks.”
Union officials said Thursday that a total of 6,000 members have gotten layoff notices so far, including at the assembly plant, and at parts manufacturers which supply it.
Meanwhile, GM’s plant in Fort Wayne, Indiana has increased production of a light truck also produced at its assembly plant in Oshawa.
Check out the full story from Josh Rubin
Windsor autoworkers facing layoffs call Trump’s tariffs ‘an unjustified attack on Canada and our jobs’
The roughly 4,000 workers who will be laid off at Stellantis’ Windsor assembly plant became some of the first casualties of President Donald Trump’s trade war, but they are unlikely to be the last in this southern Ontario city.
While Trump sparred Canada from the worst of the global tariffs he announced Wednesday, the country’s auto industry was hit with a 25 per cent tariff, and a complicated set of rules to determine how it will be applied. Stellantis said Thursday it will shut the plant for two weeks — starting April 7 — to determine the impact.
“Stellantis continues to assess the effects of the recently announced U.S. tariffs on imported vehicles and will continue to engage with the U.S. administration on these policy changes,” said company spokesperson LouAnn Gosselin. “Immediate actions we must take include temporarily pausing production at some of our Canadian and Mexican assembly plants.”
Read more from Ryan Tumilty
Trump tariffs prompt market sell-off: S&P 500 suffers largest one-day loss since 2020
U.S. President Donald Trump’s expanded global trade war sent shock waves through markets Thursday with the S&P 500 suffering its largest one-day loss in value since the pandemic hit in 2020.
“A day like today is dominated by emotions,” said Bipan Rai, managing director of BMO Global Asset Management. “We got an historical announcement yesterday and the shock is still reverberating through the market.”
Markets in Asia and Europe were the first to open following Trump’s announcement Wednesday of reciprocal tariffs targeting U.S. allies and foes alike.
London’s FTSE 100 Index was down by 1.6 per cent as the U.K. faces 10 per cent tariffs from the U.S. In Japan, the Nikkei 225 plunged nearly three per cent after Trump slapped the island nation with 24 per cent duties,
Similar scenes played out in Canadian and U.S. markets by the time they opened.
Read the full story from Josh Rubin and Nathan Bawaan
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