Unions representing steel and manufacturing workers from Canada and the United States have joined forces to oppose new tariffs under the Trump administration, which they say are undermining vital cross-border manufacturing partnerships. The United Steelworkers (USW) and the International Association of Machinists (IAM) are urging the U.S. government to reconsider its approach, emphasizing that penalizing Canadian businesses and laborers fails to address the deeper issues of unfair trade practices.
In a shared letter addressed to U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer, top union leaders Roxanne Brown of the USW and Brian Bryant of the IAM made it clear that Canada is not responsible for unfair trade conditions, but is instead being unfairly targeted. They urged the U.S. and Canada to jointly address problems like global overproduction and dumping, rather than relying on punitive trade policies that harm both nations.
Shared supply chains under threat
Union officials have sounded the alarm that these tariffs could severely disrupt the deeply connected supply chains spanning the North American continent. Marty Warren, National Director for the USW in Canada, highlighted the unions’ unity as a powerful example of international labor solidarity. He emphasized the need for the U.S. and Canada to work closely together to safeguard employment, economic stability, and manufacturing strength across the shared region.
The United Steelworkers union represents 225,000 members in Canada and nearly 850,000 individuals across North America and the Caribbean. As the largest private-sector labor organization in the region, the USW is pushing for cooperative, rather than retaliatory, strategies to address global trade imbalances. The union and its partners believe that real change will come from joint efforts to correct unfair practices, not from policies that pit North American countries against each other.