How pickup trucks took centre stage with consumers and the U.S.-Canada trade war

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below.HomeCommoditiesAutosHow pickup trucks took centre stage with consumers and the U.S.-Canada trade warSome analysts see Ford's and GM's investments in Canada as proof that pickup trucks are one area where the country remains competitiveLast updated 2 minutes ago Ford's F-Series pickups have been the overall best-selling vehicle in Canada for 16 straight years and have held the same title even longer in the U.S. Photo by Peter Power/PostmediaGeneral Motors Co. says it will spend $144 million so that its Oshawa, Ont. assembly plant can build more kinds of the vehicle that has emerged as a sore spot in Canada’s trade war with the United States: pickup trucks.THIS CONTENT IS RESERVED FOR SUBSCRIBERS ONLYSubscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada.Exclusive articles from Barbara Shecter, Joe O'Connor, Gabriel Friedman, and others.Daily content from Financial Times, the world's leading global business publication.Unlimited online access to read articles from Financial Post, National Post and 15 news sites across Canada with one account.National Post ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition to view on any device, share and comment on.Daily puzzles, including the New York Times Crossword.SUBSCRIBE TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLESSubscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada.Exclusive articles from Barbara Shecter, Joe O'Connor, Gabriel Friedman and others.Daily content from Financial Times, the world's leading global business publication.Unlimited online access to read articles from Financial Post, National Post and 15 news sites across Canada with one account.National Post ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition to view on any device, share and comment on.Daily puzzles, including the New York Times Crossword.REGISTER / SIGN IN TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLESCreate an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience.Access articles from across Canada with one account.Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments.Enjoy additional articles per month.Get email updates from your favourite authors.THIS ARTICLE IS FREE TO READ REGISTER TO UNLOCK.Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience.Access articles from across Canada with one accountShare your thoughts and join the conversation in the commentsEnjoy additional articles per monthGet email updates from your favourite authorsSign In or Create an AccountToday, suburban moms, executives, crunchy hikers and rural cowboys are all likely to drive a pickup, which has evolved far beyond its utilitarian roots, with price tags on new high-trim models often topping $100,000 and luxury features such as quilted leather seats, concert hall audio, intelligent air suspension systems and high-output engines.Midsize SUVs and sedans may outsell pickups in raw numbers, but U.S. automakers count on the latter as a high-margin, low-volume product that forms the core of their profits.Trade war or not, GM and other automakers are forging ahead on plans to increase production in Canada, which may be why U.S. negotiators are so focused on enforcing higher tariffs on Canadian-made pickups.“Trucks are the most profitable vehicles in a manufacturer’s portfolio, hands down,” Joe McCabe, president of consultant AutoForecast Solutions LLC, said. “They’re high margin and people are spending money on them like they’re going out of style.”Under the recently rejected trade deal, U.S. negotiators agreed to lower tariffs on Canadian-made vehicles to 15 per cent from 25 per cent, but not on medium- and heavy-duty pickups.Prime Minister Mark Carney cited that exception as a reason why trade talks broke down, saying it would have threatened GM’s Oshawa plant and also Ford Motor Corp., which is still finishing a $5 billion investment at its Oakville, Ont., plant, where it plans to start building its F-Series Super Duty pickups this fall.He said the proposed U.S. deal “would have made the production (of pickups) uneconomic over time.”Still, with an estimated $1 trillion in goods traded between the two countries, the situation is testing just how important pickup trucks are to Canada and its economy.Ford’s F-Series pickups have been the overall best-selling vehicle in Canada for 16 straight years and have held the same title even longer in the U.S.But measured by volume, auto production in Canada has largely shifted to Japanese-owned automakers, Honda Motor Co. Ltd. and Toyota Motor Corp., neither of which manufacture pickups here.Less than 10 per cent of the 1.2 million vehicles produced in Canada in 2025 were pickups, but they represented about 25 per cent of the 10 million vehicles produced last year in the U.S.McCabe said U.S. negotiators’ focus on medium- and heavy-duty pickups may be more of an emotional argument in some ways.“It’s sort of like baseball and apple pie. The White House is saying, ‘We’re the pickup, we invented it, it’s our job,'” he said. “Our view is, ‘Yeah, but Canada uses pickup trucks, not just the U.S.'”This advertisement has not loaded yet.This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below.Pickups weren’t always popular with suburbanite and urbanite consumers, but decades of government policies and private investment have helped broaden the appeal of what was once considered a workhorse vehicle reserved for farmers and construction workers.In 1964, the U.S. government placed a 25 per cent tariff on foreign-made trucks in response to European tariffs on frozen chicken. Compared to a 2.5 per cent tariff on most other foreign-made vehicles, some say that alone created incentives for U.S. automakers to shift production to pickups.The U.S. government in 1978 then began regulating tailpipe emissions by establishing Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards, but it exempted pickups, which were still largely viewed as a vehicle used by commercial industries.By the 1990s, automakers started shifting marketing budgets towards pickups, which could use larger V6 and V8 engines without incurring the heavy financial penalties that passenger vehicles incurred under CAFE standards.Most pickups in the 1980s were built with regular cabs that featured two doors and a long bed, reflecting their commercial usage; but today, most pickups feature crew cabs with four doors and a large backseat and it’s not uncommon to see their drivers cruising down a narrow city street.“We call them urban cowboys,” McCabe said.Among the five segments that account for 64 per cent of all new vehicle sales in the U.S., pickups were the most expensive, with an average new price of US$67,000, according to Kelley Blue Book Co. Inc.’s July price index.Their average price also rose the most among those five segments, at 2.8 per cent year over year.All three of the U.S. automakers operating in Canada — Ford, GM and Stellantis NV — have reported growing profits or raised their sales outlooks based in part on strong pickup sales.Some analysts see Ford’s and GM’s investments in Canada as proof that pickup trucks are one area where the country remains competitive.“Manufacturing has just been shifting away from developed countries for decades and Trump is obsessed with bringing it back,” Christopher Worswick, a professor of economics at Carleton University in Ottawa, said. “I’ve thought for a while that he’s thinking, ‘How do I get production back from China or Mexico? It’s going to be very hard to do.’”He said neither Canada nor the U.S. are well-positioned to compete for investment in plants that produce lower-margin, higher-volume products, which tend to be built in countries that have lower cost structures.During the past two decades, there has already been an exodus of auto plants to lower-cost jurisdictions. For example, Mexican-built vehicles represented 21 per cent of all Canadian auto imports in 2025, up from 8.45 per cent in 2002, according to Statistics Canada trade data.Meanwhile, U.S.-built vehicles’ share of the market dropped to 43.75 per cent in 2025, down from 65 per cent in 2002.Worswick said he believes U.S. President Donald Trump is picking a trade war with Canada because its cost structure is similar to what exists in the U.S., so the economics make more sense.He said both Canada and the U.S. can compete in what he described as niche products. That’s a high-margin, low-volume category that he said in some ways describes pickups.Of course, U.S. auto companies that invested in manufacturing operations in Canada are being hurt by U.S. tariffs on autos, steel and aluminum.“It’s hurting the American companies in the short term,” Worswick said. “But that’s something Trump’s prepared to accept because he wants his party to be able to run and say we brought car production back to the U.S. and I just think it’s a lot easier to get it away from Canada.”We apologize, but this video has failed to load.Notice for the Postmedia NetworkThis website uses cookies to personalize your content (including ads), and allows us to analyze our traffic. Read more about cookies here. By continuing to use our site, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.