Canada's auto industry braces for impact as U.S. tariffs loom: 'We're vulnerable'

The employee parking lot at Stellantis NV's car assembly plant near Toronto sat mostly empty on a recent winter day. Inside the sprawling Brampton, Ont., factory, work on a new assembly line has been halted and the cluster of chimneys atop the building no longer belches emissions. It's as if the factory - like the auto industry itself - is holding its breath. The plant, built in 1986, has been closed since the end of 2023, its workers sent home to wait out a retooling for the next-generation Jeep Compass. Then came more bad news. First, U.S. President Donald Trump…