Canadian auto billionaire’s fortune doubles even with US tariffs

When US President Donald Trump first targeted the Canadian auto industry with tariffs it cost Linda Hasenfratz her status as a billionaire. 

The majority of Hasenfratz’ net worth is concentrated in Linamar Corp., the auto parts and industrial equipment manufacturer her father founded and she’s run for more than two decades. After the first round of tariffs was announced last year — including levies on autos specifically — Linamar’s stock plunged and her fortune dipped to around $800 million. 

But now Linamar’s shares have rebounded to near record highs, and Hasenfratz’ net worth has hit $1.8 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. These changing fortunes may point to both a limit to Trump’s ongoing trade assault on Canada, and a potential way forward for the country’s beleaguered manufacturers.

“Tariffs are very much a short-term problem,” Hasenfratz, 60, who is Linamar’s executive chair, said in an interview with BNN Bloomberg Television. “The vast majority of our business, there’s absolutely no tariff.”

Shares of the Guelph, Ontario-based company have climbed about 27% this year in Toronto — outpacing the 16% advance of the benchmark S&P/TSX Composite Index — despite a one-day dip on Thursday after reporting second-quarter earnings that fell short of analysts’ estimates.  

Hasenfratz didn’t respond to a request for comment about her net worth or the company’s........

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