Global automakers grab a bigger share of Canadian market in trade war

Hyundai Motor Co. vehicles bound for export are driven into a cargo ship at a port near Hyundai Motor's Ulsan plant in Ulsan, South Korea. Sales of vehicles made outside North America are rising in Canada since the trade war. Photo by SeongJoon Cho/Bloomberg

Auto manufacturers from around the world are moving in to grab a bigger piece of the Canadian marketplace as a trade war with the United States drags on.

Vehicles made outside North America accounted for 34 per cent of Canadian monthly vehicle sales in August, the latest data available from Statistics Canada, up from 28.8 per cent in March, the month before the U.S. introduced tariffs on foreign vehicles.

Overall, the share of vehicles made in Canada, the U.S. and Mexico that were sold in the Canadian marketplace declined during