<span>STORY: The Canadian manufacturing hub of Windsor is home to thousands of small and specialized part makers and caters primarily to car companies and equipment manufacturers. </span><span>The city thrives on close integration with Detroit, America’s automotive capital, just across the river.</span><span>That means it’s also on the frontline of tariff and trade uncertainty with Canada’s largest trading partner. </span><span>JACKIE RAYMOND: “Even if we don’t directly work with the automotive industry, we indirectly do.”</span><span>Jackie Raymond is co-owner of FASTSIGNS, a Canadian company that designs and installs custom business signs and graphics.</span><span>The company is coming off its toughest year since the pandemic. </span><span>Orders from its core automotive clients dried up.</span><span>And while a new project brought some relief, the company says customers are placing smaller orders, demanding longer payment terms, and bargaining harder on prices.</span><span>:: File</span><span>It all points to uncertainty tied to the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement, which is up for review this year. </span><span>It’s a deal U.S. President Donald Trump has repeatedly said he could scrap.</span><span>:: Washington, D.C. / December 2, 2025</span><span>TRUMP: “…and we’ll either let it expire or we’ll maybe work out another deal with Mexico and Canada…”</span><span>:: File</span><span>The agreement – known as CUSMA north of the border – exempts most Canadian goods from U.S. levies.</span><span>While Mexico has started formal negotiations with the U.S. over the deal’s renewal, Canada has so far only held informal talks.</span><span>RAYMOND: “I think the CUSMA is very, very important because it trickles down to every little business right down to your barber shop and your nail shop, which will affect all of our customers.”</span><span>The situation in Windsor reflects a broader unease facing Canada’s economy, which contracted 0.6% in the fourth quarter. </span><span>About 90% of the city’s exports cross the border, often multiple times during production.</span><span>Manufacturing accounts for nearly a quarter of employment in the Windsor-Essex region.</span><span>Its chamber of commerce, which represents about 750 businesses, says companies paused investments, delayed production, and cut jobs at the height of the tariff uncertainty last year. </span><span>:: File</span><span>Windsor partly regained its footing as Trump exempted USMCA-compliant exports from Canada from tariffs in March last year.</span><span>But uncertainty still drags on business confidence and Windsor’s unemployment level remains one of the highest among major cities in Canada.</span><span>Local shops complain of lower traffic and restaurants report thinner crowds.</span><span>And builders say the housing market – often among the first sectors to show strain from the knock-on effects of tariff uncertainties – is near a standstill.</span><span>Brent Klundert of BK Cornerstone, a local real estate builder, said he laid off 13 of his 21 staff as sales and prices slumped last year. </span><span>“And you know, when people are going to make the biggest investment of their life, they really want confidence in their job, in the longevity of their job in the economy itself. And people lost that due to the tariffs.” // “If we can get through CUSMA, if we can get through our trade agreements with the US, I think that that will add a lot of confidence into the marketplace that we’ve been lacking.”</span><span>Since January Klundert has rehired 10 of his employees, hoping homebuyers would start coming back.</span><span>So far, only a few have.</span>
