Fighting back against tariffs
Donald Trump in November 2024 came with almost immediate threats against Canada. Before even taking office, he threatened to hit all Canadian products with tariffs on day one of his presidency. As of the time of writing, no tariffs have been imposed on Canada. Trump continues to threaten 25 percent tariffs on steel and aluminum, stacked onto another 25 percent on most other Canadian products, with 10 percent on energy and critical minerals.
More than half the Canadian membership could be directly impacted by these tariffs, from members in the steel and aluminum sectors to those producing other manufactured goods, or forestry, potash, copper, nickel and much more. Our union asserts that these tariffs are unjust and that the Trump administration must not initiate an unfair trade war. We continue to call for an exemption on all tariffs on Canadian goods. If the situation escalates, the Canadian government must implement strategic retaliatory tariffs and undertake Buy Canadian measures to use Canadian steel, aluminum and other manufactured products in federal and provincial infrastructure projects. Our union also demands the development of a comprehensive industrial strategy, a critical minerals strategy, reforms to EI and other worker supports. We also call for strengthened trade remedy measures, including strategic Section 53 tariffs on unfairly traded goods and safeguard measures.
Working during inflationary times
Canada has not been immune to high inflation and a rise in the cost of living, particularly related to housing and food costs. The inflation rate peaked at 8.1 percent in June 2022. Working people have been hit hardest, with the largest price increases to food, shelter and transit. On the contrary, wealthy households saw their incomes and wealth grow at a higher rate than prices increased.
Our union has fought back against the false narrative that rising wages are the cause of inflation, instead asserting that workers need wage increases that, at minimum, match inflation. Lingering supply chain issues, geopolitical tensions, climate change and corporate greed have all played a part in rising inflation in Canada and abroad.
Within this context, we’ve bargained some of our strongest collective agreements of all time. But the interplay between domestic economic policy, trade, geopolitics and the environment require a broader solution that will lead to a sustainable and more equitable economy and international trade system.
Since the 2022 convention, our union has been at the forefront of fighting for worker-centred trade policies and economic investments aimed at ensuring the longevity of our key industries as we seek to decarbonize the economy. We expressed this view comprehensively in our 2024 submission to Global Affairs Canada on potential new measures to advance and defend Canada’s economic security interests.
Linking trade, environment and jobs policy: towards a green industrial strategy
Our union in Canada has led the way on advocating for the consistent policies that link good jobs, industrial and infrastructure investment, decarbonization and worker-centred trade.
While Canada’s response to the Inflation Reduction Act and other policies were not nearly as comprehensive as those in the United States, the USW successfully advocated for tying labour conditions to income tax credits following the 2022 Fall Economic Statement. Additionally, we demanded and won 25 percent tariffs on steel and aluminum from China and continue to advocate for additional trade action on critical minerals and other elements of the clean economy supply chain. Our position remains that Canada must not undermine its own stated goals on good jobs in a clean economy by facilitating a glut of cheap goods and services entering our markets, undercutting clean industrial production and good, community-supporting jobs.
As part of our comprehensive view on economy, trade, labour rights and environment, our union has also advocated for a domestic critical minerals strategy and supply chain due diligence legislation. In February 2023, we prepared a submission for Global Affairs Canada and appeared at the parliamentary committee arguing in favor of due diligence legislation aimed at ensuring corporations with ties to Canada cannot violate labour and human rights at any point on the supply chain. Our union is also a key board member of the Initiative on Responsible Mining Assurance, which creates and implements responsible mining standards domestically and abroad.
Taking action on unfair trade
For decades, many of our key sectors in Canada and the United States have been exposed to unfair trade practices from offshore. Specifically, countries such as China, Korea, Turkey, Russia and India have, for years, dumped cheap products into the Canadian market. This has been the case with steel products in particular, but many sectors of the North American economy have been devastated by unfair trade practices.
Since 2015, the USW in Canada has had the right to participate in trade cases. In 2022, we won the right to initiate trade cases, as unions have had in the United States for decades. Perhaps more importantly, after USW advocacy, the Canadian trade rules expanded to include impact on workers when determining material injury. Previously, when the trade tribunal made a determination as to whether unfairly traded goods posed a threat to Canadian industry, they were only looking at the impact on profits and business. After a half-decade of lobbying and campaigning, the tribunal must now take into consideration the impact of alleged unfair trade on bargaining outcomes, layoffs, pensions, health and safety and broader community impact. Since these changes came into effect in 2022, we have filed nearly a dozen questionnaires (rebar, wire rod, plate, hot-rolled, cold-rolled, seamless, and corrosion-resistant steel and on piling pipe) with our local unions demonstrating the on-the-ground impact of unfair trade on USW members.
Stand Up for Steel Conference
While participating in and initiating trade cases have been extremely effective at imposing duties on dumped and subsidized goods, our union continues to advocate for broader trade reform and other policies as part of our broad goals on industrial strategy.
In June 2024, members from USW steel locals convened in Ottawa for a one-day conference, followed by a day of lobbying key politicians and bureaucrats. Our main demands include use of clean Canadian steel in public infrastructure projects, a carbon border adjustment to offset any negative impact of a price on carbon and a better-resourced Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA). Recent regulatory reforms to better track and identify country of steel melt and pour can only be enforced effectively if the agency tasked with the work is sufficiently resourced.
Tariffs on steel, aluminum and EVs from China
Following our successful steel conference, the Department of Finance opened a call for submissions on Section 53 tariffs on electric vehicles from China, aimed at matching the U.S. decision to do so earlier in 2024. Our union filed extensive submissions arguing not only in favour of 100 percent tariffs on electric vehicles (EVs) from China, but also for 25 percent tariffs on steel and aluminum from China.
With the U.S. tariffs set to come into force, Canada was at risk of a glut of cheap steel and aluminum entering our markets resulting from general overcapacity and stricter U.S. trade measures. Emphasizing the risk to our domestic steel and aluminum industries, while highlighting the lower-carbon impact of Canadian steel and aluminum, the Canadian government announced it would impose tariffs as of October 2024. This was a clear victory for our union and Canadian industry. We must continue to draw links between the need for domestic production, clean manufacturing and good, community-supporting jobs.
Trade deals: undermining clean economy jobs commitments
Despite stated commitments by the Canadian government to negotiating and signing so-called “progressive trade agreements,”
we continue to see deals that contain corporate-friendly provisions such as investor-state dispute settlement rules, which allow private corporations to sue national governments, bypassing domestic courts and taking cases to private tribunals.
Among the vast number of trade and investment agreements negotiated by Canada, our union has a particular interest in those that aim to bolster access to Canadian markets of goods produced by USW members. As part of our stance that Canada must improve its supply chain policies as it relates to a decarbonized economy, our union has continually asserted the need for domestic resource extraction and processing wherever possible.
Indonesia
We have several thousand members in critical minerals, specifically nickel. Yet, despite Canada’s tacit commitment to a critical minerals strategy and touting the good jobs that will emerge from increased demand for resources such as nickel, Canada continues to negotiate a free trade agreement with Indonesia, with a specific focus on access to nickel. The USW has been involved in building alliances with Indonesian trade unionists to oppose the agreement as it exists now, with few or no labour provisions and which prioritizes access to cheap resources at the expense of local land and people, while undermining good jobs in Canada.
Ecuador
The Canada-Ecuador trade agreement is a prime example of Canada betraying its alleged commitment to negotiating progressive trade deals. Despite evidence of human rights abuses and violations of UNDRIP in Ecuador – some allegedly carried out by Canadian-owned mining companies –Canada continues to fast-track negotiation of the deal. At Canada’s behest, investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS) provisions will likely be part of the deal. However, the USW and the Canadian labour movement are engaged in action to impact the deal to ensure that it bolsters strong labour, environmental, human and Indigenous rights. Canadian and Ecuadorian workers and citizens will be better off if this trade agreement can lift up all workers, rather than facilitate corporate rights and access to cheap goods made through exploitation of labour and land.
CANADA-UNITED STATES-MEXICO AGREEMENT
As the CUSMA comes up for review in 2026, our union in Canada is working hard to prioritize and strategize our position on key provisions affecting workers. We will prioritize a long-term resolution to the spectre of section 232 tariffs on Canadian-made steel and aluminum and to ensure tariff-free access to U.S. markets on other products. This means improved procurement provisions, including ensuring bilateral access to procurement markets to prioritize use of Canadian and American manufactured products.
Softwood lumber
The last three years provided no respite to the enduring softwood lumber dispute between the U.S. and Canada, despite continual findings by trade tribunals that duties are not justified. After Canada attempted to ensure a long-term solution during the original CUSMA negotiations, the dispute has dragged on. In 2024, the U.S. Department of Commerce nearly doubled duties on Canadian softwood lumber, as they rose from 8 percent to 14 percent, with fears that they could rise upwards of 25 percent to 30 percent in 2025.
With the ever-present threat of softwood duties, the USW continues to advocate for an end to the softwood lumber trade war and will prioritize this during the coming CUSMA review.
Steel melt and pour and aluminum smelt and cast
As part of the 2018 agreement, Canada was required to develop regulations to identify country of origin of steel melt and to prevent transshipment and trade circumvention. With pressure from our union and industry, new standards went into effect in November 2024, largely mirroring those
U.S. standards.
While we have made progress on commitments to prevent transshipment in steel, our union continues to push for stronger aluminum smelt and cast rules and country of origin rules under the CUSMA.
Our union has also kept a close eye on the use of the rapid response mechanism in the United States and one instance in which it was invoked in Canada. This, along with achievements in Mexican labour law reform, will form part of our review of the CUSMA. We will also prioritize improvements to the labour chapter.