Axing counter-tariffs unwise while Trump is ‘diluting’ CUSMA: steel union
Global News
The United Steelworkers are the latest labour union to come out against the removal of Canada's counter-tariffs on U.S. goods compliant with North American free trade rules.
The United Steelworkers (USW) on Tuesday became the latest labour union to come out against the removal of Canada’s counter-tariffs on U.S. goods compliant with North American free trade rules, questioning the move’s efficacy amid a “worsening economic picture.”
Prime Minister Mark Carney has said the move, announced last week, was meant to match U.S. President Donald Trump’s exemption for goods traded under the Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement (CUSMA) from his sweeping tariffs on Canada.
But USW national director Marty Warren said in a statement that Trump has been “increasingly diluting” CUSMA through his sector-specific tariffs on steel, aluminum, autos, forestry and other industries, which have been imposed under a U.S. national security pretext known as Section 232.
Other sectors could be hit the same way in the future, he warned.
“Prime Minister Carney must meet the moment we are in,” Warren said. “The federal government must remain steadfast in working to not only safeguard and protect Canadian workers but aggressively build Canadian economic resiliency.
“Our federal government must keep our economic sovereignty at the centre of any and all decision-making when it comes to the renegotiation of CUSMA and in particular those sectors affected by Section 232 tariffs,” he added.
Warren also called for a federal industrial strategy that would bolster key manufacturing sectors hit by Trump’s tariffs “to defend and create jobs that provide the stability of decent pay and a union.”
The USW said such a strategy is necessary to “avoid further entrenching Canada as simply a supplier of natural resources sent to the U.S. for higher-value processing.”
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