KOKOMO — Automaker Stellantis is temporarily halting production at its facilities in Canada and Mexico following President Donald Trump’s announcement of a 25% tariff on imported vehicles. This decision will result in the temporary layoff of approximately 900 U.S. employees, impacting several plants in Michigan and Indiana.
Starting April 7, Stellantis will pause production at the Windsor assembly plant in Canada for the weeks of April 7 and 14, with operations expected to resume the week of April 21. Similarly, the Toluca assembly plant in Mexico will also halt production for the entirety of April.
Due to this production pause, temporary layoffs will affect workers at the Warren and Sterling stamping plants in Michigan, as well as at the Indiana and Kokomo transmission plants and the Kokomo casting facility in Indiana.
In a email from North American Chief Operating Officer Antonio Filosa sent to employees, Filosa said that Stellantis will quickly adapt to the policy changes imposed by Trump. He noted that the actions that the company is taking “are necessary given the current market dynamics.”
“We understand that the current environment creates uncertainty,” Filosa wrote. “Be assured that we are very engaged with all of our key stakeholders, including top government leaders, unions, suppliers and dealers in the U.S., Canada, and Mexico, as we work to manage and adapt to these changes.”
UAW President Shawn Fain criticized Stellantis's decision, in a statement sent to WRTV.
"Stellantis continues to play games with workers’ lives. As we’ve shown time and again, they’ve got the money, the capacity, the product, and the workforce to employ thousands more UAW members in Michigan, Indiana, and beyond. These layoffs are a completely unnecessary choice that the company is making. It’s more of the same, and everything that’s wrong with our broken trade system. Companies like Stellantis use workers as collateral damage to pay the price for management’s poor decisions, and it’s unacceptable.”
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