Subaru Canada’s plan to shake up its mix of imports from assembly plants in the United States and Japan will help insulate the company from U.S. auto tariffs and Canadian countertariffs, according to CEO Tomohiro Kubota
>President Donald Trump's tariffs https://archive.is/uHwRR just cost America a chunk of Canadian business.
<Subaru, which sold 68,043 cars in Canada in 2024, is reshuffling its supply chain in response to escalating car trade scuffles.
>The company sold over 17,700 American-built vehicles in Canada last year, making up 26 percent of its 2024 sales.
<But the Japanese automaker’s Canadian division will slash US imports to just 10 percent by the 2026 model year, representing thousands of cars and millions of dollars lost.
>The biggest impact will be on the American-built Outback. The popular car will no longer ship north after 2026. Instead, it will feature a 'made in Japan' badge.
<Subaru Canada's CEO, Tomohiro Kubota, said the move will 'minimize the impact of the counter surtax,' according to Automotive News Canada.
For Subaru, it’s cheaper to build and ship cars out of Japan than deal with the political whiplash of US trade policy