加拿大汽车零部件商：美加若加征关税，行业数周内将瘫痪

I want to get a firm understanding from from you about what is and what is not subject to not just tariffs currently, but potential tariffs come the beginning of next year. Well, from linearized perspective, more than 90% of our sales have absolutely no tariff on them this year. Uh, and that has been the case for some time. So we are not being large. We are being impacted a little bit on that. Less than 10% of our sales that has a tariff, but the vast majority of sales do not have a tariff.

Uh, and even this latest round of tariffs, the 338 uh, tariffs that were enacted last week, uh, do not impact, uh, our industry. The retaliatory tariffs, we also believe, will not be impacting as due to exemptions that that are in place for, uh, you know, manufacturing in certain sectors. So, uh, we feel, uh, we're in as good a position as we could, uh, be at the moment. What about car like tariffs on on actually cars and trucks because that's the end product for what your products go and build.

And I'm curious if if this hits your customers then that certainly affects your business in a certain way. So are there knock on effects even if your specific products aren't affected? But the end product is? Yeah, I mean, obviously that if our customers are being impacted by tariffs, that has a negative long term impact on pricing because nobody can absorb tariffs forever. So, uh, and in the end it all ends up flowing down to the consumer.

Uh, which is not a good thing. Right. If consumer prices go up for vehicles, then that could negatively impact demand and result in lower production. Uh, in the industry. So, uh, that, uh, that's obviously a threat for the overall industry, even if the parts suppliers are not seeing tariffs again, just to clarify, because there are a lot of moving parts in there, a lot there's a lot of back and forth between the US and Canada here.

We did hear earlier this week from the president of the United States, who said that on January 1st, 2027, tariffs on all cars, trucks, both large and small automotive parts and steel will be increased 50%. Does that increase to 50%? Will that if there is not an agreement reached between now and the end of the year? Will those tariffs affect your company? Yeah. I mean up until this the moment and and until this latest, uh, potential tariff, there has been no tariff on auto parts.

So if a tariff is imposed on auto parts as of January, it will obviously have a big impact on the industry. I mean, the industry is incredibly integrated from a supply chain perspective across really all three countries, not just Canada in the U.S., but also Mexico. But I mean, just kind of in the U.S.. I mean, we've had free trade, uh, in automotive with, uh, the US since the mid 1960s. I mean, this is decades and decades of supply chain integration.

So parts are going back and forth over the the border six, seven or more times to incur a tariff, uh, at each border crossing will cripple the industry. It'll bring it to its knees. So, I mean, I understand it's a powerful, uh, threat, uh, that the president is, is bringing to bear. But the negative impact to the industry, the vast majority, uh, of which, uh, of employment of which is in the United States, will be very negatively impacted.

So I think that certainly the U.S. administration is going to need to give very careful consideration before they decide to impose such tariffs, just because of the blowback on their own country and their own, uh, businesses and workers. So at what point would tariffs affect production? Um, on your end. What's your take on that? After all we've been talking about all we've been hearing you talk about. Yeah. If tariffs are imposed on auto parts and this is a position I've held for, uh, since tariffs first just started to be bandied about, uh, you know, at the beginning of this administration, it would be a matter of weeks before the industry would be on its knees.

Uh, in my opinion, it would shut down within a matter of weeks. Wow. What are have you heard anything from companies? The automaker, you know, the, uh, the car companies. Have you heard anything from them? Are they thinking of changing plans? Have you heard anything? Absolutely not. I mean, our our type of product in our industry are highly engineered products. They're products that you spend years tooling up, uh, and getting qualified for with your customers.

Significant amounts of testing required to make sure that they're meeting requirements around, uh, around safety, around performance, around a whole variety of, uh, uh, of aspects. So this isn't something you can say, oh, I'm going to buy this, uh, transmission component or driveline component from somebody else tomorrow. Just not possible. This is a multi-year, uh, endeavor. So we've heard nothing at the moment. I mean, this is a very new, newly, uh, suggested, uh, threat, uh, that has been thrown out there.

Uh, I personally think that we will come to an agreement before then. I mean, I think we were very close last week. Uh, there was a, you know, a few wrenches thrown in the works at the last minute. Uh, I have a lot of confidence that we will come to an agreement before the end of the year, simply because we are so reliant on each other. Americans on Canadians, Canadians on Americans. We have decades, frankly, centuries of interaction and commerce that we have done together.

There's just too much at stake to not find a way to address concerns that either country might have with the trade relationship. I firmly believe that solutions are available and will be reached before the end of the year. Yeah, we hear what you're saying, Linda, from from lawmakers to governors in states that border Canada and governors that you understand, uh, the importance of the relationship between the US and Canada.

We're speaking with Linda Hasson. Fritz, the executive chair of the auto parts supplier, Lynn Amar. She joins us from Guelph, Ontario. Among your biggest customers Ford Motor, General Motors, Volkswagen, Stellantis, Mercedes-Benz. I mean, you sell that to everybody. Uh, at this point, when we when we talk to executives at many different types of companies, what they tell us about this environment, it's it's it's it's less about, you know, the actual back and forth when it comes to trade policy and more about the instability of an environment where it seems like, uh, rules and regulations can change very quickly.

As executive chair at Lynn Amar, What do you want to see? Not just from the Canadian government, but from the US government as well. Just to make it easier for you to do business. Well, I mean, I obviously would love to see us come to a resolution between our countries. Uh, you know, also with respect to the Usmca agreement and any, uh, changes that are being considered in that regard to, uh, to, you know, see that agreement further strengthened?

I mean, it is already a very robust agreement, uh, that, uh, is working exceptionally well for all three countries. So anything we can do to make that stronger would be great. But frankly, you know, to think that we can, uh, operate, that we're going to suddenly go back to operating in this, uh, more predictable world. That just might not happen. You know, I think that from our perspective, from my perspective and our executive team, our focus is how how do we operate?

How do we continue to operate and thrive in a dynamic environment? Because I think things are going to be dynamic for a while. So, uh, you know, the things aren't predictable and we need to develop strategies that are flexible, that are nimble, uh, equipment that's flexible, people that are flexible in their capabilities so we can pivot where the markets are going and, uh, and take advantage of opportunities, frankly, that are created when there is, you know, uncertainty and turmoil around you.

That's been our focus. Uh, not a hope, uh, that, you know, we're somehow going to go back to some level of predictabil