Three local Stellantis plants will see temporary layoffs as the auto manufacturer assesses the impact of President Donald Trump’s recently announced tariffs.
The Indiana Transmission Plant, Kokomo Casting Plant and Kokomo Transmission Plant are facing temporary layoffs, the company confirmed to the Tribune on Thursday.
Jodi Tinson, a spokesperson for Stellantis, said 900 UAW-represented employees in the U.S. will be temporarily laid off. Other plants affected include Warren and Sterling stamping plants in Michigan.
It’s not clear how many employees at the three Kokomo plants will be affected or how long the layoffs will last. Messages left for the leaders at both UAW Local 685 and 1166, which represent the union workers at the affected plants, were not immediately returned.
The temporary layoffs in Kokomo are a result of the company temporarily idling production at the Windsor (Canada) Assembly Plant for two weeks beginning Monday, and its Toluca (Mexico) Assembly Plant for the full month of April.
The three Kokomo plants affected manufacture components that are used by the Windsor and Toluca plants, as well as other Stellantis plants.
The decisions come after Trump announced a 25% tariff on auto imports, though vehicles and parts that qualify for duty-free treatment under the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement, a regional trade pact the president negotiated five years ago, appear to be exempt.
Trump’s goal for the tariffs is to encourage more companies to move manufacturing into the U.S. but his policies risk a sudden economic slowdown as consumers and businesses could face sharp price hikes on autos, clothes and other goods.
“Taxpayers have been ripped off for more than 50 years,” Trump said in his Wednesday remarks at the White House. “But it is not going to happen anymore.”
In an email sent at 7 a.m. Thursday to all North American Stellantis employees, Antonio Filosa, the company’s chief operating officer for the Americas, said, “it will take our collective resilience and discipline to push through this challenging time.
“But we will quickly adapt to these policy changes and will protect our company, maintain our competitive edge and continue delivering great products to our customers.”
“We are continuing to assess the medium- and long-term effects of these tariffs on our operations, but also have decided to take some immediate actions, including temporarily pausing production at some of our Canadian and Mexican assembly plants,” Filosa continued. “Those actions will impact some employees at several of our U.S. powertrain and stamping facilities that support those operations …
“These are actions that we do not take lightly, but they are necessary given the current market dynamics.”
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