U.S. tariffs on Canadian steel and aluminum doubled at 12:01 a.m. Wednesday morning, jeopardizing thousands of Canadian steel jobs and putting the country’s industry in peril. The same day, leaders of some of Canada’s largest labour organizations called for retaliatory tariffs.
On March 4, the U.S. government’s 25 per cent tariffs on Canadian steel came into effect. Now, the tariffs on these goods are up to 50 per cent.
In a press conference on Wednesday, Bea Bruske, president of the Canadian Labour Congress representing over three million workers, called for “immediate expansion of section 53 measures.” In Canadian customs and tariff law, the federal government can impose tariffs where unfair trade practices are occurring.
Lana Payne, national president of Unifor which represents more than 320,000 workers, called for immediate counter tariffs in a statement released on the union’s website.
While labour leaders are clear on their demand for counter tariffs, spokespeople from other sectors are not as enthusiastic about the idea.
At Wednesday’s press conference, Bruske was joined by Candace Laing from the Canadian Chamber of Commerce and Carole Saab from the Federation of Canadian Municipalities. Laing said Canada’s response to rising tariffs needs to demonstrate smarts. The implementation of counter tariffs could harm businesses that rely on American imports.
“It’s understandable to want to show fight,” Laing said, “but as I said, we have to also be thoughtful as we contemplate our response.”
Bruske said that Canada should be using all the tools available to it while responding to these tariff threats. She noted that harm from U.S. tariffs has already started. She said there are 23,000 steel jobs and 9,500 aluminum jobs in Canada that are expected to be impacted by the tariffs. Including spin-off jobs in those communities, Bruske estimated that around 160,000 jobs will be affected.
READ MORE: United Steelworkers calls for counter-tariffs on steel and aluminum against US
“We know within the next couple of days and weeks, job losses will start to accumulate,” Bruske told reporters. “So time is absolutely critically important.”
Beyond counter-tariffs, Bruske also called for emergency reforms to employment insurance (EI), targeted wage subsidies to keep workers employed and business afloat and tax incentives to encourage the use of Canadian steel.
The Liberal government, led by Prime Minister Mark Carney, faced multiple questions in the House of Commons on Thursday asking whether they would table a Spring Budget to lay out how the government plans to support workers and industry amid tariffs.
Bloc Quebecois MP representing Saint-Jean , Christine Normandin, voiced her concerns about the lack of support for industry in Quebec. She said the liberal government has had “three months of doing nothing.”
“In Ottawa, there’s still no support for our key sectors, still no budget,” Normandin added. “It’s still just improvisation.”
Melanie Joly, federal minister of industry, said the government is working everyday to fight against tariffs. She said she has been meeting with CEOs in the aluminum and steel industry.
“We will continue to fight against these tariffs,” she said. “We will continue to protect our industries in Quebec and throughout Canada. We will also invest and build and that is why we’ll have a strong defense industry to support our jobs here in Canada, and we’ll have great national projects.”
While parliamentarians have this debate, Bruske said good jobs, stable communities, and the ability for families to weather growing uncertainty are at stake. Whether support comes through a budget or targeted emergency legislation, what matters is that workers get support swiftly.
“From a labour perspective, the important thing is that action happens quickly,” Bruske told rabble.ca. “…More than 160,000 Canadian jobs in steel and aluminum are on the line. These workers, and the communities they support, need more than political debate. They need leadership, and they need it now.”
“I want to see how we are going to support the people that keep our economy running,” she added. “How are we supporting workers? How are we keeping them tied to their communities? And how do we do that by also making sure that we are not backing away from a challenge? When you are at a bargaining table, you need to meet force with force.”
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