TORONTO— The decision by U.S. President Donald Trump to double tariffs on Canadian steel and aluminum imports to 50% is a direct threat to Canadian jobs and economic stability.

Unifor is urging the federal government to act without delay to defend Canada’s manufacturing sector and counter the escalating trade assault.

“These tariffs are killing investment in our steel, aluminum, and auto sectors, and we are already seeing the consequences in lost jobs and economic instability,” said Unifor National President Lana Payne. “We need immediate and forceful action to defend good jobs and safeguard our national economic security.”

The 50% tariff, which came into effect today, doubles the previous 25% duty imposed on Canadian steel and aluminum imports since March 2025. Canada remains the largest supplier of both steel and aluminum to the United States. The U.S. imports approximately a quarter of its steel from Canadian suppliers, while half of all U.S. aluminum consumption originates from Canada.

“These tariffs are a direct blow to aluminum workers in Quebec and across Canada,” said Unifor Quebec Director Daniel Cloutier. “They threaten good union jobs and destabilize an industry that plays a critical role in the North American economy. By doubling tariffs on both aluminum and steel, the U.S. is undermining the reliable, high-quality supply it depends on from Canadian workers.”

These measures are part of Trump’s ongoing misuse of Section 232 of the U.S. Trade Expansion Act, using national security justifications to impose punitive trade barriers.

The increased metal tariffs follow the April 2 introduction of a 25% U.S. tariff on all vehicles manufactured outside the United States, including those made in Canada—despite a deeply integrated automotive supply chain and the near-balanced trade relationship between the two countries. This move directly violates both the spirit and letter of the CUSMA agreement and its automotive side letters. An additional 25% tariff remains in place based on unsubstantiated border and fentanyl claims.

The cumulative effect is wreaking havoc on integrated supply chains, discouraging investment, and threatening jobs in Canada’s steel, aluminum, automotive industries and other manufacturing industries.

Soaring metal costs will drive up the price of cars, airplanes, and critical infrastructure, while putting thousands of jobs at risk and dealing a serious blow to manufacturing competitiveness on both sides of the border.

Unifor is calling on the federal government to respond with urgency by:

•    Enacting immediate retaliatory tariffs on U.S. steel and aluminum to match the 50% rate;
•    Implementing new border measures to prevent unfairly traded or dumped foreign steel and aluminum from entering Canada;
•    Temporarily halting exports of strategic metals to the U.S. and building a national stockpile reserve;
•    Strengthening the Foreign Extraterritorial Measures Act (FEMA) to block companies from relocating Canadian jobs in response to U.S. pressure.

“President Trump fails to understand the chaos and damage these tariffs will inflict on workers and consumers in both Canada and the U.S.,” added Payne. “This is about economic sovereignty. Canada must respond with strength and urgency.”

Unifor warns that further threats by Trump to target aerospace, softwood lumber, energy, pharmaceuticals, microchips, copper, and Canada’s film and entertainment sectors demonstrate the need for a broad-based industrial and trade defense strategy.

“This is a defining moment,” said Payne. “If we don’t defend our industries now, we risk losing them for good.”

WINDSOR—Unifor Local 195 members working at the Best Western Plus in Windsor are on the picket line today in a push for fair wages and to fight back against concessionary demands from their employer.

“Unifor members at Best Western Plus deserve wages that reflect the value they bring to the hospitality sector and respect for the hard work they do every day,” said Unifor National President Lana Payne. “Instead of seeking to improve working conditions, the employer has demanded concessions. Our members won’t stand for it.”

Local 195 members walked off the job at 12:01 a.m. June 1. Unifor has called on the employer to return to the table with a serious offer that addresses wages and withdraws concessions.

“Hotel workers should not be asked to accept less while the hospitality industry continues to recover and grow,” said Unifor Ontario Regional Director Samia Hashi. “This strike is about protecting decent work and dignity for every worker who makes this hotel run.”

Unifor Local 195 represents nearly 40 workers in guest services, housekeeping, and maintenance at the hotel.

Unifor Ontario Regional Director Samia Hashi has been appointed to the board of the Ontario Health Coalition, strengthening the union’s role in the fight to defend and expand public health care in the province.

Hashi’s appointment comes at a critical time for Ontario’s health care system, as the Ford government continues its push to privatize services like surgeries and diagnostics. Public hospitals are stretched beyond capacity, staffing shortages are worsening, and patients are paying the price—sometimes literally—as for-profit clinics expand.

“To save public health care, we need unions, community organizations, health workers, and everyday people fighting side by side. That’s what this moment demands,” said Unifor Ontario Regional Director Samia Hashi.

The Ontario Health Coalition is the province’s leading public health care advocacy group, with a long history of grassroots mobilization to protect and improve the public system. Its mandate includes resisting privatization, demanding adequate funding, and ensuring that health care remains universal, accessible, and not-for-profit.

In 2023, Unifor’s Ontario Regional Council launched a province-wide campaign titled Save Ontario Health Care, which mobilized thousands of members and allies in communities across Ontario. The campaign exposed how privatization has drained resources from public hospitals, increased wait times, and created dangerous inequities in access to care.

The campaign included town halls, workplace actions, and political advocacy—engaging members not only as workers in the health system, but as patients, caregivers, and voters.

Unifor has recently kicked off a National Health Care and Social Services Tour, where Hashi is among the Unifor leaders, including Health Care Director Kellee Janzen, and Assistant to the National Officers Kelly-Anne Orr, who are hitting the road to meet directly with frontline workers in hospitals, long-term care homes, and social service agencies.

The tour has been met with urgency and passion from Unifor members who are witnessing the collapse of critical services firsthand. Many are seeing patients turned away, staff pushed past the brink of burnout, and corporate staffing agencies profiting off a system in crisis.

“Health care should never be a source of profit,” said Hashi. “Every dollar siphoned into private pockets is a dollar not spent on care.”

The coalition includes more than 400 member organizations representing seniors, workers, patients, and community leaders. Together, they are demanding immediate action from all levels of government to end privatization and reinvest in a robust public system of care.

For more information on the Ontario Health Coalition, visit: www.ontariohealthcoalition.ca.