In a press release Thursday, the United Steelworkers union (USW) expressed its “profound disappointment” in the Trump Administration's decision to remove Canada's exemption from Section 232 tariffs on steel and aluminum products.
“This decision is unacceptable and calls into serious question the design and direction of the Administration's trade policy. Section 232 relief is founded on national security interests and US law. Our history shows that there is no stronger ally and partner on national security than Canada,” the union said in a statement.
“So far, the Administration's trade policies have led to confusion, higher trade deficits and no real success in changing the practices of our trading partners. Ultimately, the goal is not a tariff barrier, but a stronger America. It's time to ensure that we're on the right path,” the USW said.
Meanwhile Canadian union Unifor said in its own press release that it fully supports the “swift imposition of retaliatory measures in response to punishing tariffs on Canadian steel and aluminum exports to the US.”
“Make no mistake—this is a full-on trade war. The US has systematically come after Canada's aerospace, softwood, paper and now steel and aluminum industries,” said Unifor National President Jerry Dias in the press release. “Unifor fully supports the action taken by the federal government to fight back on behalf of Canadian workers.”
Dias claimed that “America didn’t get what it wanted at the NAFTA table so the Trump administration is using the absurd premise that imports from Canada constitute a security threat to America to lash out at Canada and Mexico.”
Quebec is a major supplier of aluminum while Ontario is a supplier of steel and automobiles. Unifor represents more than 40,000 workers in the auto industry and an additional 4,000 members in the aluminum sector, with 1,000 at Rio Tinto in British Columbia and the remaining 3,000 in Quebec.