Donald Trump's tariff threats spark fear on the frontlines of Canada's looming trade war

Peter Piazza is the chief executive of a family-owned cheese company in Windsor, Ontario .

He married the boss’s daughter 40 years ago and is now the boss himself.

The cheese company, Galati Cheese Co. Ltd. , has 24 employees today , and he oversaw the company's majority purchase by Kirtland Capital Partners LLC in 2023 .

The Gordie Howe International Bridge will join the Ambassador Bridge at some point later this year .

The $6.4-billion monument to trade is practically intended to divert a significant percentage of the north-south flow of trucks, goods and people away from its overburdened 100-year-old rival.

Windsor councillor Fabio Costante hopes the new bridge will divert traffic elsewhere and give his ward an opportunity to stitch itself back together.

The average car, and parts thereof, crosses the border eight times before it is fully built and ready for the showroom floor.

Free trade in auto parts between Canada and the U.S. has existed since 1965 .

Some of those parts crossing the Ambassador Bridge are manufactured by Martinrea International Inc.’s factory in Tillsonburg , Ont . The Canadian auto-parts maker also has factories and nearly 4,500 .