Why U.S. Manufacturing Stands to Benefit

Canada’s auto parts industry, a cornerstone of its manufacturing economy, is buckling under the weight of looming U.S. tariffs—and American manufacturers are poised to reap the rewards. With President Trump’s reciprocal trade policies set to launch on April 2, 2025, a 25% tariff on Canadian auto parts will pile onto existing duties, hitting giants like Magna International where it hurts most. The choice is clear: produce in Canada and face a compounding cost nightmare, or shift south and thrive. For the U.S., this isn’t just a trade skirmish—it’s a golden opportunity to supercharge its automotive sector and slash reliance on foreign supply chains.

Magna, headquartered in Aurora, Ontario, is a titan in the auto parts world, supplying components to Ford, GM, and Tesla from dozens of Canadian plants. In 2024, it raked in over $43 billion, much of it from U.S. markets. But the tariff storm threatens to derail that success. Starting April 2, Canada faces baseline tariffs on exports, with an additional 25% levy on auto parts layered on top—compounding the financial hit. For Magna, that could mean millions in extra costs overnight, crushing margins and forcing a rethink. Analysts see the writing on the wall: rather than bleed cash, companies like Magna may ramp up U.S. investments—think Michigan, Ohio, or Tennessee—where production dodges tariffs and plugs into America’s manufacturing resurgence.

Canadian Furniture Makers Choose the U.S.

In a decisive win for American manufacturing, Prepac, a prominent Canadian furniture maker, has shuttered its long-standing facility in Delta, British Columbia, and shifted all production to its plant in Whitsett, North Carolina. This move, finalized in March 2025, underscores how U.S. economic policies are luring foreign companies south of the border, bolstering American jobs and industry. For a nation committed to revitalizing its manufacturing base, Prepac’s relocation is a shining example of how strategic trade measures can tilt the scales in favor of the U.S.

Founded in Vancouver in 1979, Prepac built its reputation crafting ready-to-assemble furniture for retail giants like Walmart, Target, and Amazon. For decades, it thrived in British Columbia, even earning accolades as BC Exporter of the Year in 2017. But the tides turned. Facing an ’altered economic environment,’ as the company put it, Prepac ceased operations at its Delta plant on March 14, 2025, with plans to terminate all 170 employees by May. Meanwhile, its four-year-old North Carolina facility—opened in 2021 with a $27 million investment—is now the sole hub of production, employing over 200 American workers.

From The Archives

In a surprising turn of events, President Joe Biden announced on July 21, 2024, his decision to withdraw from the upcoming presidential race, citing health concerns and the need for fresh leadership within the Democratic Party. This announcement comes amidst a whirlwind of speculation regarding his fitness for a second term.

In an unusually casual method, Joe Biden’s announcement to drop out of the presidential race was made via a letter posted on his X account. He expressed his gratitude to the American people for their support over the past years, emphasizing his commitment to the country’s welfare. “It is with a heavy heart but clear mind that I step aside”, Biden stated, “to ensure our party and our nation can move forward with vigor and vision.”

In an interesting turn of events, Vice President Kamala Harris has been named as the new Democratic presidential candidate. Harris, who has been by Biden’s side since their inauguration in 2021, is poised to continue the administration’s agenda.

The Democratic National Committee (DNC) has confirmed an expedited process to officially nominate Harris, ensuring no disruption in campaign activities. Political analysts suggest this change might reinvigorate the Democratic base, although it poses new challenges in an already unpredictable election landscape.

It’s official. It looks like 2024 is going to be a rematch of the 2020 elections with Donald Trump vs. Joe Biden.

There are a lot of people who cringe at the thought of another year of political brawls. We know we can expect quite a lot of mudslinging and drama over the next few months. But it’s important to keep in mind the more important issues. There is a lot of serious business that is really going on below the popular and public narrative.

It’s critical to understand what is currently going on in the economy and how this election is going to impact business and the manufacturing sector.

While it is clear that Donald Trump is a polarizing figure, there is a clear connection between Trump’s policies and activity in the American business sector. We can look at some of the actions taken by both presidents to help inform what might happen in the next administration. It is typical to hear nothing more than hollow promises from political leaders, but it is rare to hear them talking about manufacturing and industry when they are not campaigning. But to actually see action being taken to protect US industry was unexpected.

In March of 2018, Donald Trump signed into law a tariff of steel and aluminum, stating that “We have to protect our steel and aluminum industries.” To us in the manufacturing industry, it was really refreshing to hear a political figure taking action to help us for a change.

This action was not without its critics, but the tariff of 25% on steel from overseas is proactively nothing when compared to the tariffs imposed on US goods when imported into other countries. This action was seen as shocking and dangerous to people who are not in the industry, but was seen as obvious and more than reasonable to industry professionals who regularly export overseas.

As was expected, there was a short time of adjustment, but before long the industry saw a tremendous boom. Prices went up a little, but demand for US steel went up a lot more. The increase more than covered the additional cost. And because more people were using better steel, our costs to manufacture steel tooling actually came down domestically in many instances.

On February 16, 2024 Donald J. Trump was found guilty in a New York civil court and sentenced to pay the city 350 Million dollars in fines and barred him from running a business in New York for three years.

It goes without saying that if a person commits a crime that they should be held accountable. However, whether they are aware of it or not, New York is sending a very strong signal to the business community, they are not interested in conducting business. This verdict has far reaching consequences that go well beyond Donald J. Trump, and will echo for years to come. The message is loud and clear. “Stay away from New York.”

Let’s look at this unusual case as it progressed and try to learn a few things along the way.

A Conflict Of Approach

Most detectives investigating a crime will tell you that when you approach a crime scene, you need to let the evidence tell the story. The case needs to be built by the evidence, and therefore, the reality of what happened. However, this does not appear to be the case of what happened in New York.

Back in 2018 Latitia James ran for the office of District Attorney vowing to take down Trump. She was elected to the office and went to work doing just that. This action projected a clear case by drawing the conclusion first, and then building the case around that fore drawn conclusion.

The case that Latitia James chose to pursue was an extremely odd case. One that involved loans that Donal Trump secured from banks, while backing those loans with existing properties. This is a common practice done every day in Real Estate. Not to say that crimes of this sort aren’t committed everyday, but rather to say that this is a common agreement established between real estate developers and banks.

Real Estate is a hard thing to value. Sometimes the value is up, and sometimes the value is down. It can be quite difficult to establish the true value of any given property. Therefore a complex system is used to establish the value. This system uses the value of similar and nearby properties. It uses historic tax records of the property in question, as well as those neighboring properties. In addition, the historic sale prices of the property are used to help establish the current value.

Before a loan is established, the bank, the property owner, as well as a third party appraiser will all evaluate the property independently and determine the value of the property. Once this process happens, they all come together and sit down at a table and bat the numbers around. The bank is going to try to negotiate the value down, while the owner is going to cast the property in the best light. Meanwhile, the appraiser is there to ensure the numbers all fall within a reasonable range.

There are plenty of people who have this false belief that the value of things is solid, defined and fixed. But the reality is, prices for commodities like this are actually defined by two people sitting around a conference table, and negotiating a price. As with most things, the reality of a system is much more complex than it appears from the outside.

Experience

The next odd thing that happened was this case was appointed to Judge Engoron, a former taxi driver who ran unopposed for the position of Judge in 2015. Engoron has little to no experience proceeding over real estate cases, but somehow was still appointed. There were other Judges in New York to choose from who were more qualified, but somehow the case fell to him.

Maybe there is nothing to this other than the fact that he was simply the next available judge in the queue, or perhaps it was his affiliation with the Democratic party that won him the case.

Regardless of the facts, the problem is that his unqualified appointment reinforced the message that real justice was not being processed

No Jury

On October 3, 2023 Judge Engoron made a ruling that the case would not be heard by a Jury. The excuse was that Trump’s attorney missed a deadline, and therefore voided the opportunity to a trial by Jury. But the right to a trial by jury is not a technicality, it is a right established as the Sixth Amendment within the Bill Of Rights of the United States Constitution. This is yet another reason to question the legal process that happened here in this case.

The Value of Mar-a-Lago

At the core of the case was a question of the value of a property in Florida known as Mar-a-Lago. Built in the 1920s at a cost of seven million. When adjusting for inflation, the construction costs would be 108 million in 2024 dollars. This 108 million value does not account for the expansion of the property. It does not account for the increase of the value of property in Palm Beach Florida. It doesn’t account for the historic value of the property. Generally the value of a property increases when a president lives or has lived there. And hey, let’s face it, having the FBI conduct the first raid on a former president’s property is absolutely a historic event that is sure to increase its value.

But the world was shocked that Judge Engoron determined that the value of the property was only worth eighteen million dollars. A shockingly low dollar amount, while Florida based real Estate experts have stated that if Mar-a-Lago was listed today, it could easily fetch three hundred million.

The Victim

Another unprecedented factor of this case was the fact that in most cases, there has to be a victim. But it was not made clear who the victim actually was. Sometimes it was presented that the bank was the victim. However, they did not bring this case against Trump. The bank actually testified that they were more than happy with the deal, and in fact that they would be more than happy to conduct business with the Trump Enterprise again in the future. So it appears clear that they were not the victim.

At other times it was said that the people of New York were the victims. That this was not a case where the bank was the victim, but rather that the bank and the Trump Enterprise colluded to defraud the people of New York.

But this doesn’t appear to be what is happening either. If it were, this would not have been a case against Trump, but rather this would have been a case against both the Trump Enterprise and banks as co-defendants. Clearly that was not the situation.

The Ruling And The Message

In the end, Judge Engoron ruled that The Trump Enterprise was guilty and Trump was ordered to pay an insanely high amount of 350 million in fees and banned Donald Trump and oddly enough, his sons from conducting business in New York for three years.

Latitia James, and Judge Engoron were able to get their ruling and were able to get one over on Trump. But at what cost?

This sends a dangerous message to the people. It tells us that this was not a case about justice, but rather an attack on any person they don’t like. To double down on this craziness, the Governor of New York Kathy Hochul made the following statement.

“...New Yorkers who have businesses have nothing to worry about because they are different from Donald Trump and his behavior.”

They may have been trying to ease people’s minds by saying that Trump is an unusual case, but the message that was received was quite a bit different. The message that was received was that in the state of New York, justice will not be applied the same to all people.

They made it quite clear. If the political elite of New York don’t like you, they will go after you, your business, and your livelihood. And they have no trouble, and no guilt about bending and manipulating the law to do so. This ruling exposed the real policies of the New York political elite. If you don’t play by their arbitrary rules, they will crush you. Not only has this sent a message to the people that they are willing to just take your hard earned money. This has hardened people against this political ideology, and made Donald Trump even more popular.

Many businesses have been left shaking in their boots. The exodus has begun and numerous businesses are fleeing New York, and the ones left now have less people to sell to. Business is like a spider web and when you cut one thread, you impact all other businesses as well. It’s sad that when businesses leave a place like New York, the effects of that take decades to rebuild. But it’s fine, if New York doesn’t want to participate in the next big economic boom, that simply means more opportunity for the rest of us.

Appeals

What is most interesting about this ruling was this; In a rush to judgment, Latitia James, and Judge Engoron skipped over the due process, and bypassed all the important details. Sure they got their judgment, but they left the door wide open. This case was full of holes and it is unlikely that he would have been ruled guilty on this in other parts of America. What this means is that it is almost certain that the Trump legal team will win in the appeals court.

Ultimately Latitia James, and Judge Engoron have done irreparable damage to business in the state of New York. They have caused damage to hundreds of thousands, possibly millions of New Yorkers... and it’s all for not.

In a stunning turn of events, Delaware denies Elon Musk’s pre-approved compensation package.

It had been established by the board of Tesla that if Musk was able to achieve a series of nearly impossible accomplishments, that he would be allowed to buy 55 billion dollars worth of stock options. This is an unusually large compensation package, but on the other hand, Tesla has had unusually large growth since the agreement was put into place back in 2018.

The complaint comes from Richard J. Tornette. He is a shareholder who allegedly holds only nine shares. Apparently, he has a history of buying low quantities of shares in companies, and then bringing suit against those companies. In his current lawsuit with Musk, he is claiming that the agreement between Musk, and the Tesla board was unfair.

And in a stunning ruling, Judge Kathaleen McCormick, graduate of Havard and Noter Dame Universities, called the deal, “an unfathomable sum.”

	The incredible size of the biggest compensation plan ever, an unfathomable sum, seems to have been calibrated to help Musk achieve what he believed would make a good future for humanity,
	Judge Kathaleen McCormick

It should also be noted that Judge Kathaleen McCormick has been involved with Musk before in the court case Twitter v. Musk.

Of course, Musk and his team will be appealing this decision, but the damage has already been done.

This is another situation where the government has overreached traditionally held laws to meddle in the affairs of business.

It has been well established that if you are forming a national based or international company there are only a few states where you might choose to headquarter your company. It is important to have your company located in a state with favorable laws and regulations that will protect the company and the stockholders.

With the Trump Real Estate decision in Manhattan, New York managed to put themselves at the very bottom of the list. They made it clear that they have no interest in protecting the company, the management, or the stockholders, making them officially the worst state to base your company in.

But this decision by Judge Kathaleen McCormick, suddenly makes them a strong contender for second worst state in the country to locate your business.

Delaware has been at the top of that list for decades, followed by Nevada, Texas, Florida, and Wyoming.

But is yet another situation where the state overlooks the precedent, they overlook the reputational damage to the state and make an unprecedented ruling. A ruling that is designed to damage the CEO of a tremendously successful company. But a decision that will likely have a bigger impact on the state.

Delaware is not a large state, and they do not have much manufacturing or exports to other states. Beyond their reputation as a business friendly state, they really have nothing much to offer. The entire state’s economy is built around this singular advantage they built for themselves. Delaware gains greatly from this due to the billions of corporate dollars that run through their state each month. And their reputation is that they stand with and protect companies who choose to incorporate in their state.

With this one decision, Judge Kathaleen McCormick shot at Tesla, a company that chose to partner with the state of Delaware, directly in the back. What sort of message could she possibly think this sends to every other company in the state?

Perhaps it comes from jealousy? Or perhaps it was because Musk emerged successfully from Twitter v. Musk. Or perhaps they are actually nothing more than incompetents. But it seems clear in this case Judge McCormick couldn't see past the money involved in the actual matters of the case.

But the fact remains, here are two Democrat controlled states who have overreached the law to cause damage to companies within their state. Which starts to give us a pretty clear picture. If you want to incorporate, you now have three choices. Texas, Florida, or Wyoming.

Thanks to the hard work of Judge Kathaleen McCormick, Delaware will never be the same.