TOKYO (Reuters) -Nissan Motor has suspended U.S. production of three vehicle models for Canada amid mutual tariffs imposed by the U.S. and Canada on auto imports, the automaker said.
It has halted production of Pathfinder and Murano SUVs and Frontier pickup trucks, the Japanese automaker said in a statement late on Wednesday, without saying when the suspension went into effect or how long it expected it to stay in place.
“This is a short-term and temporary measure, and we remain hopeful that ongoing discussions between the U.S. and Canadian governments will lead to a successful agreement in the near future,” Nissan said in a statement.
The production halt was first reported by the Nikkei newspaper, which said the suspension started in May.
Nissan said its top-selling vehicles in Canada, such as the Versa, Sentra and Rogue, were all sourced from either Mexico or Japan, with production from those two countries accounting for 80% of its Canadian sales.
Nissan assembles the Pathfinder and Murano in Tennessee and the Frontier in Mississippi.
The Trump administration imposed 25% additional tariffs on auto imports in April, prompting Canada to implement retaliatory tariffs. Mazda Motor also halted Canada-bound production at its Alabama plant while boosting production for the U.S. market, the company said in May.
While Canada is a relatively small market for Nissan, the suspension underscores the difficulty facing global automakers from the tariffs. The levies have also added to a deepening crisis at Nissan, which has been badly hit by deteriorating sales and an ageing vehicle lineup.
It reported a $4.5 billion net loss in the financial year that ended in March and has declined to disclose a forecast for the current financial year, when it also faces some 700 billion yen ($4.79 billion) in debt coming due.
Its debt ratings have been cut to “junk” by all three major credit-rating firms. Reuters reported last month that the automaker has asked some suppliers to allow it to delay payments to free up short-term funds, in a sign of its scramble to boost cash.
Nissan does not have factories in Canada. In the last financial year it sold around 104,000 vehicles there, less than half of what it sold in Mexico and a little more than 10% of what it sold in the United States. Overall, Canada accounted for just 3% of Nissan’s global sales in the last financial year.
($1 = 146.1700 yen)
(Reporting by Mariko Katsumura and David Dolan; Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman and Christopher Cushing)
