How bad is Trump going to mess up car prices in Canada?

January 6, 2025 11:57 AM

I am in the market for a used car, as used car prices have dropped back to something approaching a reasonable level here in Canada. Should I be trying very hard to buy one before Trump takes office?

I want to wait until my backpay from a contract renegotiation comes in, but I fear that the US plans to make tariffs insane is going to f-over supply chains for new cars, resulting in a COVID-like rapid increase in the price of used cars. How likely is it that this will happen? Will it affect Canada just as quickly as the US?

posted by jacquilynne to Shopping (8 answers total)

Are most new cars sold in Canada made in America (regardless of the brand name) or do you have a large % of the new cars shipped into Canada from Asia or Europe?
posted by metahawk at 12:06 PM on January 6

Response by poster: According to statistics I just Googled up right now:
Canada imports Cars primarily from: United States ($16.9B), Mexico ($3.59B), South Korea ($3.25B), Japan ($3.1B), and Germany ($2.57B).
posted by jacquilynne at 12:31 PM on January 6

I would work on that sooner rather than later, yes. I mean, your guess is as good as mine and today's news says that the bully is rethinking his global tariffs, but tariffs don't require congress, so .... yeah, I'd buy now.
posted by Dashy at 12:43 PM on January 6 [1 favorite]

In reality, no one knows - if they did, wouldn't there already be some savvy investor already out there snapping up all the used cars to sell at a profit later? (And therefore driving up the price for a different reason?). USD stuff is already getting expensive in Canada with the exchange rate going up like it has. Market forces are varied.

I'd just buy when it makes sense to you for your life. Trying to time the market is basically gambling. How much would you be spending to finance the purchase now vs buying later when you have the extra cash?
posted by cgg at 1:21 PM on January 6 [9 favorites]

Response by poster: I wouldn't have to finance it today, it would just be slightly more annoying.
posted by jacquilynne at 2:09 PM on January 6

If Japanese & other foreign cars are tarriffed in the U.S., wouldn't there be more available to sell in Canada and therefore cheaper?
posted by canoehead at 3:24 PM on January 6

I've seen reporting that dealerships are struggling to sell inventory of new cars, and you'd think people would feel pushed to buy those first to avoid tariffs. But I'm not sure whether that tends to make used cars more or less expensive.
posted by snuffleupagus at 4:19 PM on January 6 [1 favorite]

Personally I would not be making any business or finance decisions based on the blatherings of the Great Orange One.

He is roughly equally likely to do what he said, the opposite of what he said, something different from what he said, or nothing at all on any specific given topic.

Whatever specific answer the Giant Random Spinner of Doom happens to land on, in regards to this particular topic, it is roughly equally likely to be beneficial to, detrimental to, or have no effect at all on the end result of your decision.

In general, my impression of the automotive market is that demand pressure is waning and supply and inventory are high and growing. That points in the direction of a general easing of prices in the upcoming while. And, thus, if you are not in a particular hurry, it might be well to wait a while and things are likely to be better or, at least, no worse.

However I am not an expert in any of the inner workings of the mind of the Great Orange One, the economy in general, or the automotive market in particular. So take all the above with requisite grains of salt.
posted by flug at 7:17 PM on January 6 [4 favorites]