The Canadian protests that led to the recent shutdown of the Ambassador Bridge connecting Windsor, Ontario with Detroit led to nearly $300 million in direct losses to the auto industry, a new report said.
The report from Anderson Economic Group looked at economic losses between Monday, Feb. 7, and Tuesday, Feb. 15. The estimate presumes that normal traffic is flowing through Windsor and Sarnia, and across the Ambassador and Blue Water bridges, as of Monday, Feb. 14.
The updated estimate includes lost direct wages for Michigan, lost direct wages in Ontario, and some lost direct wages in Kentucky, Ohio, and Alabama. The analysis also includes auto industry losses to both workers and investors, in addition to lost wages.
Anderson Economic Group’s analysis includes lost production and wages at Delta in Michigan and Ingersoll, Brampton, Windsor, Oakville, Cambridge, and Woodstock in Ontario, as well as Georgetown, Ky., Huntsville, Ala., and Marysville, Ohio. The analysis also included the tier I and tier II suppliers, as well as transit workers.
The analysis found that Michigan and Ontario lost nearly $145 million in lost direct wages. Automakers, including GM, Ford, Chrysler (Stellantis), Honda, and Toyota, had losses of $155 million. Combined, the losses to the automotive industry total $299.9 million, the group said.
“Within hours of the trade disruption at the Ambassador and Blue Water bridges, we observed shortages and then slowdowns at assembly plants,” said Patrick Anderson, Anderson Economic Group’s Principal and CEO. “Only some of that lost production can be made up given the tightness of the auto industry’s supply chain right now, so these are real losses to the men and women working in this industry.”