MILAN (Reuters) -Stellantis Chairman John Elkann has spent four days in Washington meeting with new U.S. President Donald Trump and several top administration officials, a company source told Reuters on Tuesday.
Elkann, who is currently steering Chrysler and Jeep parent Stellantis while the automaker looks for a new CEO, was among global top executives who were invited to celebrations for Trump’s inauguration on Monday.
Trump did not immediately impose tariffs after he took office on Monday, but said he was thinking about imposing 25% tariffs on imports from Canada and Mexico on Feb. 1.
Stellantis, which makes some cars for the U.S. market in Canada and Mexico, earlier said it considered itself well positioned to adapt to Trump’s policy changes.
“Trump’s clear focus on policies that support a robust and competitive manufacturing base in the United States is hugely positive,” it said in a statement. “We look forward to working with him on the crucial objectives of strengthening our industry and the nation’s economy.”
Stellantis operates two assembly plants in Mexico: Saltillo, which makes Ram pick-ups and vans, and Toluca, for the Jeep Compass mid-sized SUV. It also owns two assembly plants in Ontario, Canada: in Windsor, where it makes Chrysler models, and Brampton, currently under retooling and scheduled to resume production in 2025 with a new Jeep model.
The company imports from Mexico and Canada around 40% of the vehicles it sells in the U.S., analysts at Banca Akros said in a note on Tuesday.
In his inauguration speech on Monday, Trump also took aim at electric vehicles, revoking a 2021 executive order signed by his predecessor Joe Biden that sought to ensure half of all new vehicles sold in the United States by 2030 were electric.
(Reporting by Giulio Piovaccari, editing by Alvise Armellini and Bernadette Baum)
