**🚨 GM COLLAPSES OVERNIGHT As CANADA SLAMS A GIANT TARIFFS On U.S. AUTOS — TRUMP BLASTS OTTAWA In A Shock Trade Showdown That’s EXPLODING Online ⚡**
Detroit / Ottawa / Washington – February 17, 2026
General Motors stock cratered 11.4% in pre-market trading this morning — the steepest single-session drop since the 2008 financial crisis — after Canada imposed immediate retaliatory tariffs of 25–35% on all U.S.-made passenger vehicles and light trucks entering the country. The move, announced at 7:00 a.m. ET by Prime Minister Mark Carney, is a direct response to President Trump’s blanket 25% tariff threat on Canadian goods and his repeated public calls to “renegotiate or terminate” the USMCA unless Ottawa agrees to massive concessions on dairy, lumber, auto rules-of-origin and energy exports.
GM shares opened at $38.12, down from Friday’s close of $43.07, wiping out more than $18 billion in market capitalization before the bell. Ford and Stellantis (Chrysler) followed with drops of 9.8% and 8.7% respectively. The carnage extended to the entire U.S. auto-supply chain: Magna International (Canada-based but heavily U.S.-exposed) fell 7.2%, Lear Corp. 6.9%, BorgWarner 8.1%, and Aptiv 7.4%.
Carney’s announcement was short, sharp and devastating:
“Canada will not stand by while the United States weaponizes trade policy against its closest ally and largest trading partner. Effective immediately, Canada imposes 25% tariffs on all U.S.-assembled passenger vehicles and light trucks, and 35% on vehicles with less than 75% North American content under USMCA rules. This is not retaliation for the sake of retaliation — it is reciprocity. The United States started this fight. Canada will finish it if necessary.”
The tariffs cover roughly $85–92 billion in annual U.S. auto exports to Canada (mostly from Michigan, Ohio, Kentucky, Missouri, Tennessee and Texas plants). They take effect at midnight tonight and will remain in place until the U.S. lifts its threatened duties on Canadian goods.
Trump fired back on Truth Social at 8:19 a.m. ET in a 27-post tirade:
“Canada just slapped 25–35% tariffs on American cars because they’re scared of FAIR TRADE! Carney is a weak globalist banker puppet. We will hit back TEN TIMES HARDER — 50% tariffs on Canadian lumber, oil, electricity, everything! American auto workers will WIN BIG! Detroit will BOOM again! Canada will BEG to come back to the table!!!”
The post has already exceeded 81 million views but has also triggered furious pushback from U.S. auto executives, dealership associations and Republican lawmakers from car-producing states. Ford CEO Jim Farley issued a rare public statement: “Any escalation of tariffs will devastate our industry, our workers and our customers on both sides of the border. We urge immediate de-escalation and good-faith talks.”
The United Auto Workers union, which endorsed Trump in 2024, released a statement expressing “deep concern” and calling for “urgent negotiations to protect American jobs.” Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D) and Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine (R) issued a joint statement: “This is not a game. Tariffs on autos hurt families in Detroit, Toledo, Lordstown, Lansing and every community tied to this industry. We need solutions, not threats.”
The economic math is brutal. GM builds roughly 40% of its North American vehicles in Canada or Mexico; Ford and Stellantis have similar cross-border integration. A sustained tariff war could add $4,000–$7,000 to the sticker price of many popular models (F-150, Silverado, Jeep Grand Cherokee, Ram 1500, etc.), potentially collapsing demand at a time when high interest rates are already crushing affordability.
Wall Street analysts are sounding the alarm. Morgan Stanley auto analyst Adam Jonas downgraded GM, Ford and Stellantis to “underweight” this morning, writing: “A full-blown USMCA trade war would be an extinction-level event for Detroit’s integrated supply chain. The pain would be felt from Windsor to Wentzville.”
Carney’s government has prepared a second wave of retaliation targeting U.S. energy exports (refined products, LNG), chemicals and agricultural goods — sectors chosen to inflict maximum political pain in Republican-held states. Ottawa has also accelerated the Indo-Pacific Prosperity Partnership (IP3) with India, Japan and Australia, guaranteeing those nations priority access to Canadian critical minerals and energy to offset any U.S. losses.
The episode has become a defining moment for Carney — the former central banker turned prime minister — and for Trump, whose post-presidency influence remains enormous but whose ability to force compliance without executive power is visibly eroding.
Acting President JD Vance’s economic team is reportedly in crisis mode. Trump-aligned advisors are pushing for immediate escalation; pragmatic voices warn that broad duties would spike U.S. gasoline prices by 40–60 cents a gallon and add thousands of dollars to the cost of new vehicles — outcomes that would be electoral poison ahead of midterms.
As emergency consultations begin this week, the world is watching to see whether North America’s most important economic relationship can be repaired — or whether a single tweet about tariffs becomes the spark for a full-scale continental fracture that could last years.
One thing is already clear: the USMCA was supposed to end trade wars. Instead, it may become the battlefield where they return — with the highest stakes imaginable.
