Krysten Lawton, 53, works in health and safety at Ford Motor Company of Canada’s engine plant in Windsor, Ontario — mere blocks from the Detroit River — where she has worked for 30 years.Lawton is a fourth-generation auto worker in Windsor, an industrial hub abutting Canada’s US border near Detroit.Her great-grandfather, both grandfathers and her father all worked for Ford, which employs her, her husband and their oldest son.“These are really good-paying jobs,” Lawton says of the factory, where she currently works in health and safety.“This is life-changing for people to work here.”Windsor employs more people in manufacturing jobs than in any other sector — 19 percent of its workforce. Those workers and employers in Canada’s industrial heartland are now rattled by tariff threats.In March, United States President Donald Trump imposed 25 percent tariffs on steel and aluminium, and weeks later, the same on automobiles. In June, he doubled steel and aluminium duties. And now, he is threatening to tax copper at 50 percent starting Friday.That’s Trump’s deadline for Canada’s Prime Minister Mark Carney to reach a deal or face 35 percent tariffs on all goods deemed not compliant with the 2020 US-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA), atop previous duties.Last Friday, Trump threw cold water on Canadians’ hopes for reprieve.“Canada could be one where they’ll just pay tariffs,” Trump said. “It’s not really a negotiation.”Facing the same deadline, the European Union agreed on Sunday to accept 15 percent duties on most European exports. Advertisement US and Canadian manufacturers, long interconnected, are bracing for the worst — as are industry-dependent communities.“Volatility continues to be the new certainty,” said Alex Greco, senior director of manufacturing at the Canadian Chamber of Commerce.Loss of confidenceTrump’s f …
