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By Hugh Cameron
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Canada's union leaders are bracing for impact as President Donald Trump's tariffs threaten jobs and manufacturing across the country, with one union leader warning that the stakes are higher than ever.
Newsweek spoke with Lana Payne, president of Unifor, the country's largest private sector union which represents workers across the auto industry and numerous other sectors. Payne said the measures so far introduced by Trump could have a "devastating impact" on the automotive sector, and its workers in Canada and the United States.
Canada wasn't featured in Trump's speech in the White House Rose Garden on Wednesday, during which he unveiled a 10 percent flat tariff on all global imports and revealed the rates at which his reciprocal tariffs would target countries accused of "cheating" America in terms of trade.
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However, Payne cautioned that Canadians should not yet breathe a "sigh of relief," urging them not to be "gaslit" into believing they were exempt from the effects of Trump's "Liberation Day."
"We've been hammered with tariffs since January," Payne said, noting that the 25 percent duties on automobiles came into effect only hours after Trump's speech.
The impact of this, she said, has already started to become apparent.
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On Thursday, Stellantis, which is a part of the "Big Three" automakers, announced it would temporarily shut down its assembly plant in Windsor, Ontario, as it mulls the effects of the tariffs.
As well as the over 4,000 workers employed at the plant, Payne said potential layoffs could impact "thousands more in the supply chain," and that those in America were "going to feel the brunt of this too."
Stellantis also confirmed it would be temporarily laying off 900 workers across five facilities in the U.S., Reutersreported.
Payne told Newsweek the impacts of this would be cyclical and accretive, as the 25 percent tariffs result in higher car prices, dampening consumer demand and reducing the need for production facilities.
In an interview with CNN in late March, Moody's chief economist Mark Zandi said the average price of a typical car in the U.S. could increase by between $5,000 and $10,000 as a result of the tariffs.
"This will impact sales, and that will, in turn, impact production," Payne said. "Production means we have fewer people working if we end up in a place where plants are eliminating shifts, or closing plants, all of that."
She added: "We've had this industry for well over 100 years. We had an auto industry before we traded with the United States. These are not the president's jobs to take."
'Our Members Are Sending a Very Clear Message'
The union and its 300,000-strong membership are determined to resist the effects of Trump's trade policies on their jobs and their industries.
"We're fighting for our lives," Payne told Newsweek. "We're fighting for these jobs."
Payne has spoken at Unifor events across Canada to express her support for workers and advocate for unity in the face of economic challenges. The union recently adopted the mantra "elbows up," coined by the pugnacious hockey legend Gordie Howe and now adopted across Canada as a rallying cry for resistance to the tariffs and solidarity during the trade war.
"Our members are sending a very clear message, and our local leaders have given me a very clear message: They're going to do whatever it takes to protect these jobs and to protect these plants, and that means, you know, fighting in all the ways that unions fight."
Payne said this has involved communication with local and federal officials, and warning companies currently in Canada that shifting manufacturing out of the country will be met with firm responses from Canadians and the Canadian government.
As an example of grassroots resistance not limited to union workers, she cited the ongoing "Buy Canadian" boycott of American-made goods, which has already shown signs of impacting U.S. firms and the U.S. tourism industry.
Canadians are acting organically to send a message," Payne told Newsweek, "And this mood of the country—I live here—I've never seen it like this."
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Prime Minister Mark Carney Responds
Payne also praised Prime Minister Mark Carney's response to Trump's Rose Garden speech and the onset of the auto tariffs.
On Thursday, Carney vowed to hit back "with purpose and force," and said Canada would be matching the tariffs with its own 25 percent duties on all vehicles imported from the U.S. that are not compliant with the Canada-U.S.-Mexico Agreement (CUSMA).
However, Carney said this would not affect auto parts—"because we know the benefits of our integrated production system"—and that the government would work to exempt producers from the tariffs if they choose to maintain their production and investment in Canada.
"We take these measures reluctantly and we take them in ways that it's intended and will cause maximum impact in the United States and minimum impact here in Canada," Carney said.
Payne called Carney's speech "very encouraging," and added: "This carrot-stick approach is really important to preserving the footprint we have in Canada until we can work our way through this trade war."
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