Washington and Ottawa are negotiating a 15% tariff on automotive trade as both governments intensify talks over the future of North American commerce, CBT News reports.

The figure under discussion would apply to vehicles and, according to the report, has become the central number in a broader negotiation between the two trading partners. For automakers with assembly plants on both sides of the border — Stellantis in Windsor and Brampton, General Motors in Oshawa and Ingersoll, Ford in Oakville — the tariff level will directly affect sourcing decisions and plant utilization.

The talks come after the United States imposed a 25% tariff on imported vehicles and on automotive parts that do not comply with the USMCA. Canada responded with retaliatory measures on U.S. vehicles. The 15% figure now on the table represents a potential de-escalation from those rates, but it remains a negotiating position rather than an agreed outcome.

What a 15% rate would mean for plants

Canadian assembly plants shipped the vast majority of their output to the United States before the tariffs took effect. A tariff at any level on that flow raises the landed cost of Canadian-built vehicles in the U.S. market and pressures OEMs to shift allocation toward U.S. plants. Engine and drivetrain plants in Ontario that feed U.S. final assembly face the same math in reverse.

For U.S. suppliers, the tariff question cuts the other way. Seats, stampings, electronics and powertrain components cross the border multiple times in a single vehicle build under the existing USMCA rules of origin. Tariff stacking on those intermediate flows is the scenario parts makers have lobbied hardest against, and the outcome of the current talks will determine whether stacking persists.

Status of the talks

Neither government has confirmed a final rate. The report describes 15% as a figure both sides are weighing as negotiations intensify, not a settled agreement. Previous rounds of U.S.-Canada trade discussion have produced provisional figures that shifted before implementation, and until a signed deal lands, plant planners should treat the number as a working assumption rather than a commitment.

Automakers and suppliers have spent months pressing both governments for exemptions or reductions tied to USMCA-compliant content. The 15% discussion suggests negotiators are converging on a rate below the current 25% vehicle tariff, which would ease — but not eliminate — the cost pressure on Canadian-built vehicles and cross-border parts shipments.

What to watch

The decisions that follow will move production schedules: whether a finalized tariff rate arrives before OEMs lock in 2026 model-year allocation, whether Canada drops its retaliatory tariffs in step with any U.S. reduction, and whether parts exempted under USMCA content rules stay exempt at the new rate. Watch also for plant-level responses — shift adjustments at Ontario assembly operations depend directly on where the final number lands.