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Ontario premier said he’d oppose the deal unless the automakers are buying local parts
By Joe Lovinger
Ontario Premier Doug Ford said he’d oppose any deal between Stellantis NV to build electric vehicles with China’s Zhejiang Leapmotor Technology Co. in his province unless the automakers are buying local parts.
Ford assailed the potential use of “knockdown kits,” where the cars are largely built in China and then shipped overseas for final assembly. Stellantis and Leapmotor are discussing options for making EVs in Canada, Bloomberg News reported earlier, citing people familiar with the matter. The talks are at an early stage.
“If they’re bringing kits over made in China, all that does is undermine every single auto worker we have in Ontario,” Ford said in an interview late Wednesday in Dallas, where he’s on a trade mission. “I am dead against it.”
The discussions with Leapmotor are focused on an idled Stellantis factory in Brampton, Ont.. Stellantis has been holding talks about the assembly plant’s future with Industry Minister Melanie Joly, who said in a statement that “any new auto investments will prioritize Canada’s supply chain, including Canadian labour and parts suppliers.”
The potential for Chinese-led vehicle production in one of the United States’ closest allies and trading partners shows the ripple effects of U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariffs on foreign-made cars and trucks, which have disrupted the integrated North American auto sector and cost automakers billions of dollars.
The Ontario premier has more riding on the resolution of North American trade tensions than almost any other Canadian politician. The province is home to all of Canada’s automotive assembly plants, which produced about 1.2 million vehicles last year, most of them for export to the U.S. But the traditional U.S. automakers — Stellantis, Ford Motor Co. and General Motors Co. — have pulled back significantly on their Canadian production.
Unifor, a labour union that represents workers at the Brampton plant, said it would have “serious concerns” about a partnership with a Chinese firm. The use of knockdown kits would only employ a small fraction of workers, Unifor said.
Ford echoed that view, adding that he’d have no problem with an investment geared toward a fully functioning factory that depends on local parts.
“What I do have a problem is when we get undermined and auto workers get undermined by cheap Chinese parts and vehicles,” he said.
Trade ties
The premier was in Texas to meet with business and political leaders in the state, where he called for a re-commitment to free trade among the U.S., Canada and Mexico. The North American countries are heading into the first mandatory review of the trade agreement they signed during Trump’s first term.
“We’re stronger together,” Ford said. “It can be three countries that we put a ring around — no one can touch us.”
He met with companies that do business in Texas and Ontario, including Houston-based Waste Management Inc., which he said is planning to expand its operations in the Canadian province. Ford also touted opportunities for more trade between the U.S. and Canada, citing Ontario’s investments in nuclear energy technology, including small modular reactors, and critical minerals.
“Your closest friend and ally right on the other side of the border has more minerals than anyone in the world right now, that we want to get out of the ground, get them processed and sent down to the U.S.,” he said.
Bloomberg.com
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