“Discover the $21 Charger That Over 500 Yahoo Readers Can’t Stop Raving About!”

CBC

An individual at the Stellantis assembly facility in Windsor, Ont., operates on a vehicle within the region’s largest employer. The president-elect of the U.S., Donald Trump, remarked this week that his nation doesn’t require Canada’s automobiles and that he prefers to manufacture them in Detroit.

While Donald Trump was contemplating using “economic force” to possibly acquire Canada, the U.S. president-elect was simultaneously downplaying the significance of his country’s primary trading associate. “We don’t need anything they have,” Trump stated regarding Canada, at a news conference at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida earlier this week. He dismissed any dependence the United States might possess on commerce with its northern counterpart, seemingly neglecting that Canadian exports to the U.S. in 2023, for instance, reached almost $418.6 billion US, as reported by the U.S. Census Bureau. Trump also failed to refer to the roughly 4.4 million barrels of oil that the U.S. receives daily from Canada, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, which is just over half of all its imported oil and its top import. He focused on the automotive, lumber, and dairy sectors, claiming that the U.S. could satisfy Americans’ considerable need for these products. Yet, as statistics and analysts indicate, U.S. demand suggests Canada may not be so easily supplanted. Automotive Trump informed the media that concerning Canada, the U.S. doesn’t require “their cars” and that he would prefer to assemble them in Detroit. Although Canada does not produce any vehicles for mass manufacturing, it hosts facilities from U.S.-based auto manufacturers such as Ford, General Motors, and Stellantis North America. Due to its immense demand for vehicles, the U.S. is the largest auto importer globally— and Canada is one of its key suppliers. For example, over 1.5 million vehicles were manufactured in Canada in 2023, according to the Canadian Vehicle Manufacturers’ Association. The Ford Motor Co. assembly facility is depicted in Oakville, Ont. On average, approximately 80 percent of vehicles produced in Canada are sent to the U.S., according to the Automotive Parts Manufacturers’ Association. (Frank Gunn/The Canadian Press) In an average year, as per Flavio Volpe, president of the Automotive Parts Manufacturers’ Association, about 80 percent of vehicles made in Canada are exported to the U.S. Therefore, could U.S. auto manufacturers, as Trump suggests, completely relocate their facilities from Canada, set up operations in their own country, and produce all their vehicles domestically? “Absolutely,” responded Dimitry Anastakis, a business history professor at the University of Toronto’s Rotman School of Management and an automotive industry expert. However, there would be a significant drawback: the fragmentation of the North American auto sector, he noted. “It might benefit Americans and American manufacturers, but the cost of reaching that point would be so enormous that it would likely plunge the North American industry into a recession,” he stated. “These are supply chains that have been established for decades.” U.S. auto manufacturers establish facilities in Canada to capitalize on lower wages, reduced exchange rates, and a skilled workforce. While relocating all Canadian plants to the U.S. would be advantageous for labor in that country, it would also lead to substantial increases in vehicle prices for consumers on both sides of the border, Anastakis pointed out. WATCH | Trump claims the U.S. doesn’t need Canada’s automotive sector: Restructuring their supply chains would take years and be extremely expensive for U.S. manufacturers, he asserted, given the significant investments they’ve made in their Canadian operations. “This argument that [Trump] posits about ‘We could just manufacture them all here,’ as if it were merely a matter of snapping one’s fingers, is utterly disconnected from reality due to the industry’s development over the past 60 years,” Anastakis stated. Volpe mentioned that U.S. manufacturers would incur major losses by migrating and constructing new facilities in the U.S., which would require years to accomplish. “Creating a context of us-versus-them is entirely fabricated,” he remarked. Lumber As per the Washington, D.C.-based National Association of Home Builders, the U.S. domestic production of softwood lumber is insufficient to meet the requirements of the home-building sector. “To bridge this gap, the U.S. depends on softwood lumber from Canada to fulfill our lumber needs,” stated the association’s president and CEO, Jim Tobin, in an email statement to CBC News. The United States utilizes a substantial amount of lumber, with a considerable portion coming from Canada. The U.S. imports around 25 percent of its total softwood lumber consumption from Canada, and mills south of the border reportedly operate at approximately 85 percent capacity, analysts indicate. (Michel Nogue/Radio-Canada) “The U.S. imports about 25 percent of the total softwood lumber utilized from Canada, which represents a significant market segment,” explained Rajan Parajuli, an associate professor of forest economics and policy at NC State University in Raleigh, N.C., in an email to CBC News. Parajuli noted that the U.S. is unable to meet its domestic requirements. Nevertheless, Trump asserted that the U.S. doesn’t require Canadian lumber and that it has “vast fields of lumber” that he could release from restrictions through an executive order. However, Parajuli stated that it would remain “highly improbable” for the U.S., without Canadian lumber, to fulfill the demand. Although the U.S. has sufficient standing timber inventory, the sawmill industry has limited capacity and a restricted supply chain, he elaborated. Typically, the logging sector has diminished over the past couple of decades, he noted. Russ Taylor, a B.C.-based forestry consultant, mentioned that Trump could relax regulations to allow increased logging in U.S. public forests, but additional loggers, truck drivers, and workers would be required. “Where will the labor come from, along with the skilled workers and the financial resources? It doesn’t occur overnight.” WATCH | Trump states he would utilize ‘economic force’ against Canada: Taylor pointed out that Trump overlooks the processing aspect of the sector, noting that mills in the U.S. are already running at about 85 percent capacity. “You might be able to push some more logs through U.S. sawmills, but you wouldn’t achieve significant gains, you would gain marginally,” he noted. However, with approximately 25 percent of lumber originating from Canada, increasing U.S. production by five or ten percent means “you’re still nowhere near” satisfying demand, Taylor remarked. “Thus, the conclusion is the U.S. requires Canadian lumber, end of story.” Dairy In 2023, Canada exported around $488 million Cdn worth of dairy products to the U.S., according to Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada. However, Trump stated the U.S. doesn’t need Canadian dairy items, explicitly mentioning Canadian milk. It is indeed true that Canada doesn’t export a significant amount of milk to the U.S. — around $17 million worth in 2023. A young goat is pictured on a farm in Wyoming, Ont. Goat cheese from Canada is in high demand in the U.S. (Jonathan Pinto/CBC) However, there exists a market for Canadian cheese, according to Andrea Berti, president of the U.S.-based Cheese Importers Association of America. Berti stated that the U.S. imports a considerable quantity of cheese made from sheep’s milk and goats’ milk produced in Canada, products that are relatively uncommon in the U.S., which tends to focus more on cheese derived from cows’ milk. “Goat’s milk is also produced in the U.S., but it constitutes a smaller share. It’s insufficient to meet U.S. demand,” he stated. “Thus, we turn to Canada for that reason.” Berti added that Americans also seek Canadian French-style cheeses, along with artisan cheeses from Quebec, which are highly favored in specialty shops. WATCH | Trump states the U.S. is ‘subsidizing’ Canada. Is he accurate?: