Stellantis to temporarily lay off 900 US workers as tariffs bite

By Kalea Hall and David Shepardson

DETROIT (Reuters) -Stellantis NV said on Thursday it was temporarily laying off 900 workers at five U.S. facilities and pausing production at one assembly plant each in Mexico and Canada, after US President Donald Trump's tariffs were announced.

Trump broadened the tariffs to a 10% baseline on all imports on Wednesday, with higher rates for some countries. These levies followed 25% duties on all auto imports announced last week that sent shockwaves through the global auto industry.

In a letter sent to employees on Thursday morning, Antonio Filosa, Stellantis' chief operating officer for the Americas, said the company is "continuing to assess the medium- and long-term effects of these tariffs on our operations, but also have decided to take some immediate actions."

These included temporarily pausing production at some Canadian and Mexican assembly plants, affecting jobs at several of Stellantis' U.S. powertrain and stamping facilities, he said.

Shares of Stellantis, which locally makes only half of its U.S.-sold vehicles including Ram trucks and Jeeps, fell 8% on Thursday. Ford , GM and Tesla stocks fell too.

Nearly half the cars sold last year in the U.S. - the world's largest importer of cars - were brought in from abroad, according to research firm GlobalData.

Stellantis said its Windsor Assembly, where the Chrysler Pacifica and Voyager minivans and Dodge Charger Daytona are made, will be down for two weeks while Toluca Assembly in Mexico, where the Jeep Compass and Jeep Wagoneer S are made, will be down for the month of April, the company said.

About 4,500 workers at Windsor will be impacted by the idling. Workers at Toluca will continue to report to work and get paid but will not make vehicles, according to the company. 

"A horrifying consequence of Trump's tariffs," U.S. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said on X, referring to the job cuts. "American workers are paying the price."

The White House declined immediate comment on the Stellantis job cuts.

Trump and his administration have said there would be short-term pain for Americans but have promised long-term economic gains with Trump's plan. The White House said on Thursday tariffs would ultimately boost U.S. industries and workers.

"They can expect their wages to go up ... There's not going to be any pain for American-owned companies and American workers because their jobs are going to come back home," White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt told News Nation on Thursday referring to any impact from Trump's tariff plan.

INTERCONNECTED

While goods from Mexico and Canada that comply with a trade agreement between the three countries will largely remain exempt from tariffs under Trump's order, auto exports and steel and aluminum fall under separate tariff policies.

Automakers are scrambling to figure out how to respond and how much to raise prices, as customers rush to buy cars sitting in lots.

The base U.S. tariff rate for automotive imports is 2.5%. Automakers importing vehicles from Canada or Mexico can deduct the value of U.S. parts from the 25% levy.  

In February, Stellantis said it was pausing work on its next-generation Jeep Compass compact SUV including the retooling of Brampton Assembly in Canada, which is designated to build the vehicle. 

Lana Payne, president of Unifor, the Canadian union representing Stellantis workers there, said in a Thursday statement: "Unifor warned that U.S. tariffs would hurt auto workers almost immediately and in this case the layoffs were announced before the auto tariff even came into effect. Trump is about to learn how interconnected the North American production system is the hard way, with auto workers paying the price for that lesson.” 

United Auto Workers President Shawn Fain said in a statement that Stellantis has "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."

(Reporting by Kalea Hall in Detroit and David Shephardson in Washington; Additional reporting by Nora Eckert in Detroit and Susan Heavey in Washington; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama, Sharon Singleton, Matthew Lewis and Diane Craft)