OTTAWA — U.S. President Donald Trump’s auto tariffs have Canada on edge after a Japanese report suggested the auto giant Honda was thinking of ending its 39-year relationship with America’s northern neighbor.
Tuesday’s news from Japan said the tariffs were forcing Honda to consider moving production to the United States from Canada and Mexico. Just a day earlier, Trump said he wanted “to help some of the car companies,” possibly with exemptions to his 25 percent tariffs so automakers have more time to reconfigure their supply chains for U.S.-only manufacturing.
Canada’s federal and Ontario governments debunked the Honda story with a couple of phone calls, but angst remained across a country locked in a trade war with what was once its closest ally. The company released a statement later Tuesday saying its plant in Alliston, Ontario, “will operate at full capacity for the foreseeable future and no changes are being considered at this time.”
The company said it was studying “options for future contingency planning … to mitigate negative impacts on our business.”
