The President of Unifor Local 195 says hundreds of workers at auto feeder plants will be affected by tariffs.
Emile Nabbout says many feeder plants in Windsor will be impacted, and the workforce will be affected in the meantime during this unusual time.
This comes after U.S. President Donald Trump announced on Wednesday afternoon he was moving forward with 25 per cent tariffs on automobile imports starting early Thursday morning.
Following that announcement by Trump, Stellantis officials confirmed that due to the tariffs, the Windsor Assembly Plant would shutdown production for two weeks starting on Monday, April 7.
As a result, Nabbout says the feeder plants that provide parts to the Windsor Assembly Plant will also be affected.
Nabbout says there's now a lot of uncertainty in the auto sector.
"If you are in the market to purchase a vehicle right now, I don't know if you want to spend your money on a vehicle, or if you're going to hold that money for a dark day. So, those types of things are creating a lot of problems. It's going to have a big impact on the economy, it's going to have a big impact on our community."
He says there will be a trickle affect on the feeder plants due to the shutdown at Windsor Assembly Plant.
"Approximately about 700 to 800 workers can be impacted - at least from my local union - with this shutdown. We're trying to diversify many of those workplaces not to rely on only one assembly plant. But, definitely we will have an impact."
He says his message to Local 195 members is to continue to stand in solidarity.
"We need be all united in this fight. The leadership is on top of all these issues, but we cannot get it done by ourselves. We need everybody to be on board."
Nabbout adds that at this point in time the union doesn't have an official number of employees who will be impacted, but due to the shutdown at the Windsor Assembly Plant there will be a trickle-down affect.
On Thursday, Prime Minister Mark Carney announced that Canada will be matching the U.S. approach - with 25 per cent tariffs on all vehicles imported from the United States that are not compliant with the Canada-US-Mexico-Agreement.