DECEMBER 4, 2024
Originally published in the Toronto Star December 2, 2024
By Lana Payne, Contributor
Lana Payne is the national president of Unifor.
U.S. President-elect Donald Trump has threatened Canada with 25 per cent tariffs on all goods shipped to the United States as one of his first acts when he assumes power in January.
This move instantly creates a high-stakes showdown that will devastate Canadian jobs, trade-dependent manufacturing and resource industries and the economic well-being of workers.
Canada has already dealt with aggressive Trump-imposed tariffs on steel and aluminum, softwood lumber, and threats of tariffs on the auto sector. The approach might not be new, but the threat level this time — tariffs on everything — is far higher than it has ever been. Which means the stakes for Canadian workers and the Canadian economy are also far higher.
It’s time to wake up to the very dangerous reality this far-right Trump administration presents.
Regardless of the reason stated, the real reason for this latest tariff threat is jobs. Our jobs. Canadian jobs. Jobs he intends to steal by rerouting investments away from Canada.
His playbook combining major tariffs and tax cuts will effectively raise the cost of things in Canada. Even the threat of tariffs can scare corporations into investing in the U.S. instead of Canada. This has already created instability that could potentially lead to lost investment and the jobs that go along with it.
If imposed, these tariffs will immediately ratchet up prices, disproportionately hurting American and Canadian working families.
Trump’s first term in office was four years of economic chaos, with attacks on women’s rights, on workers’ rights and on human rights.
Today Donald Trump has even more power.
Most of what we make in Canada is sold in the United States. In fact, one-third of our economic activity is derived from U.S. exports.
What happens in the U.S. matters here. Our economies are interconnected.
This interconnectivity can be a source of great economic strength, co-operation and mutual interest. It can also prove a devastating weakness, a consequence of unfettered free trade mixed with authoritarian leadership.
As we know, there is no appealing to Trump’s sensibilities. Some business lobbyists in Canada have gone so far as to suggest gutting workers’ rights and slashing key economic policies like supply management and the digital services tax — as sacrificial offerings to stop the tariff threat. Capitulation is not the answer.
What Canada needs now is responsible leadership from its elected representatives, business community and organized labour.
The political games that have derailed our federal Parliament must end. Millions of workers in this country are staring down a major threat. Canadians demand better from our politicians.
What is needed is made in Canada industrial strategies that help grow key economic sectors and create good union jobs.
This means maintaining and securing investments in trade-exposed manufacturing, mining, forestry and energy industries among others.
Working people are on the front lines of this dispute with Trump. It is working people who are at risk of losing the most. Our union will stand with them. Governments and business must too.
All Canadians must unite to defend jobs, sustain investment and build a country that is resilient in the face of external threats.
There is one job here — protecting Canadians and their jobs. Let’s go.
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