Aug 30 (Reuters) – General Motors workers in Canada on Sunday approved an agreement that would build a new heavy-duty truck in Ontario, part of a pledge by the automaker to invest in a country now facing a doubling of tariffs.
Canada’s auto sector is grappling with 25% U.S. duties on vehicles, and U.S. President Donald Trump has vowed to lift that to 50% on January 1, 2027. The fate of Canadian auto plants has emerged as a central issue in the stalled U.S.-Canada trade negotiations.
According to details of the agreement released by the Canadian union Unifor on Saturday, GM offered to spend C$144 million to add the next-generation heavy-duty GMC Sierra truck to a plant in Oshawa, and pledged not to immediately sell or close a second assembly plant in Ingersoll, Ontario.GM has promised to invest over C$1 billion ($720 million) in Canadian plants. That includes a C$691 million commitment to support production of new V8 engines in Ontario that was previously announced in April, according to Unifor, which represents 4,600 GM workers in the province.
The deal offered Canadian workers a 3% wage increase a year over three years.
“The new agreements include meaningful improvements to wages, benefits and job security, and recognize the valuable contributions of our represented employees while helping sustain good-paying jobs that have long been a cornerstone of Canada’s automotive industry,” Jack Uppal, GM Canada president, said in a statement.
U.S. and Canadian trade talks ended last week over unresolved issues, such as whether to cut duties on medium- and heavy-duty vehicles that are critical for Canadian factories.
U.S. automakers had hoped the trade talks would deliver relief from Washington’s original 25% tariffs that have raised the cost of shipping vehicles and parts across the border.
About 17% of GM’s Chevrolet Silverado pickup-truck production – its top-selling model – is in Canada, according to research from Barclays.
($1 = 1.3898 Canadian dollars)
(Reporting By Allison Lampert; Additional reporting by Chandni Shah in Bengaluru and Kalea Hall in Detroit; Editing by Christian Schmollinger and Edwina Gibbs)
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