Lana Payne, president of the Unifor union representing Canadian auto workers
“Donald Trump has convinced himself that, somehow, the jobs of Canadian autoworkers are his to claim,” said Unifor National President Lana Payne. “We have built cars here for over a century, long before the U.S. was our primary trade partner. I will state this as clearly and unequivocally as I can. These are not his jobs to take.” – Canada’s Unifor Union National President Lana Payne.
“We applaud the Trump administration for stepping up to end the free trade disaster that has devastated working class communities for decades.” – U.S. United Auto Workers Union Leader Shawn Fain.
A News release from the United Auto Workers in the United States, with a Foreword by Doug Draper at Niagara At Large
Posted March 27th, 2025 on Niagara At Large
A Foreword by Doug Draper – Remember that old line; ‘Workers of the world unite’? I think it was Karl Marx who said that.
This sign along a busy street in front of the Unifor union hall in St. Catharines, Ontario certainly makes it clear how auto workers here feel about Trump and his tariffs. photo by Doug Draper
Well, when it comes to the tariffs Trump is now threatening to impose on auto products from outside the United States, auto workers in Canada and the U.S. seem to be worlds apart when it comes to how they view those threats, or at least their union leaders are.
On the Canadian side of the border, by almost every account, auto workers and the union leaders who represent them view the Trump tariffs, including the 25 per cent tariff the U.S. president is vowing to impose this coming April 3rd on cars and trucks shipped into his country, as a move that could put the kibosh on more than 100,000 good-paying jobs in Niagara, Windsor, Oshawa and other regions of the country.
However, the United Auto Workers (UAW) union, representing roughly 150,000 auto workers across the United States, is applauding the tariffs as “a step forward ‘in ending to end a free trade disaster that has devastated working class communities for decades.” – even as those looming tariffs mean significant, if not totally out of reach hikes in the price of a new car or truck for consumers in both countries.
It wasn’t that long ago that Shawn Faine, the UAW union leader for American auto workers and seen here wearing an anti-Trump t-shirt, was putting all his weight behind backing U.S. Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris and keeping Trump out of power.
Having said that, there is a history that goes back well before Trump came to political power of successive Canadian and American governments signing global trade deals that favour corporations closing shop in Canada and the U.S. and taking their operations to countries where they can manufacture their products on the cheap.
Given that history, I believe that the UAW news release below summarizes so much of the legitimate concern and anger that auto workers in both the U.S. and Canada have felt for decades and still feel now as they have seen plant after manufacturing plant close down here and re-open in countries where the wages are much lower, where health care and other benefits are few, if they existed at all, and where environmental and labour protection regulations are weak or non-existent.
What is tragic, though, is how much Trump has been able to do one of the things he knows how to do best – exploit that concern and anger to launch a tariff war he pretends will help, but will only cause more pain and loss of good paying jobs for people in his country and ours.
Wouldn’t it be so much better for workers in both countries if they united in a common cause to protect and create more good-paying jobs for all – Doug Draper, Niagara At Large
Now here is an abbreviated version of a New Release that the UAW in the United States circulated this March 26th, 2025 –
In a Victory for Autoworkers, Auto Tariffs Mark the Beginning of the End of NAFTA and the “Free Trade” Disaster
This March 26th, the Trump administration announced major tariffs on passenger cars and trucks entering the U.S. market, marking the beginning of the end of a thirty-plus year “free trade” disaster.
This is a long-overdue shift away from a harmful economic framework that has devastated the working class and driven a race to the bottom across borders in the auto industry. It signals a return to policies that prioritize the workers who build this country—rather than the greed of ruthless corporations.
“We applaud the Trump administration for stepping up to end the free trade disaster that has devastated working class communities for decades. Ending the race to the bottom in the auto industry starts with fixing our broken trade deals, and the Trump administration has made history with today’s actions,” said UAW President Shawn Fain.
Shawin Faine, head of the United Auto Workers (UAW) union in the United States
“But ending the race to the bottom also means securing union rights for autoworkers everywhere with a strong National Labor Relations Board, a decent retirement with Social Security benefits protected, healthcare for all workers including through Medicare and Medicaid, and dignity on and off the job,” Fain added.
“The UAW and the working class in general couldn’t care less about party politics; working people expect leaders to work together to deliver results. The UAW has been clear: we will work with any politician, regardless of party, who is willing to reverse decades of working-class people going backwards in the most profitable times in our nation’s history.
“These tariffs are a major step in the right direction for autoworkers and blue-collar communities across the country, and it is now on the automakers, from the Big Three to Volkswagen and beyond, to bring back good union jobs to the U.S.” …
With these tariffs, thousands of good-paying blue collar auto jobs could be brought back to working-class communities across the United States within a matter of months, simply by adding additional shifts or lines in a number of underutilized auto plants. Right now, thousands of autoworkers are laid off at Ford, General Motors, and Stellantis following recent decisions by auto executives to ship jobs to Mexico.
Across a dozen Big Three auto plants that have seen major declines, production has fallen by 2 million units per year in the past decade, while millions of vehicles sold here are made with low-wage, high-exploitation labor abroad. That means auto companies that have made record profits get to drive wages down further for both Mexican and U.S. workers while Wall Street and the corporate class get record payouts.”
Unfair trade agreements lead to closing of auto plants across the United States and Canada
The Big Three have closed or spun off 65 facilities in the past 20 years. There is plenty of work to go around at profitable margins, and plenty of working-class people looking for good, union jobs. With a serious tariff regime, we can incentivize the Big Three and the rest of the auto industry to reinvest in the American autoworker, and America’s blue-collar communities.
The next step is to immediately begin renegotiation of the US-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA), which has only perpetuated NAFTA’s harmful effects by increasing the trade deficit with Mexico and allowing automakers to offshore U.S. jobs and drive a race to the bottom. …
In a new trade deal, autoworkers have some simple demands:
- A significant number of cars that are sold in the U.S. should be made in the U.S., with strong wages and good working conditions like those that generations of UAW autoworkers have fought and died for.
- Companies must not be allowed to close factories and ship jobs to high-exploitation, low-wage countries, and to pad already-massive profits by driving a race to the bottom among autoworkers. This includes a North American minimum wage to significantly raise pay and benefits for Mexican autoworkers, along with stronger protections for labor rights and penalties for offshoring, so that workers are no longer forced to compete with one another over crumbs while the automakers walk away with a bigger and bigger slice of the pie.
- Fix the auto parts supply chain, following the same principles: fair wages and benefits for all, and an increase in American-made parts for American-assembled and American-sold vehicles.
This March 26th, Trump signed an executive order to slap costly tariffs on cars and trucks entering the United States from Canada and other countries around the world
We can fix our broken trade deals to benefit workers. But we must be consistent, send clear signals to the auto industry, and make sure that working-class people – who have paid the price for so-called “free trade” for 30 years – don’t pay the price for this transition back to high-road manufacturing jobs.
As they shift their supply chains and investments to the US, auto companies that have enjoyed years of record profits should absorb the cost of these tariffs rather than passing them on to consumers, and the UAW would support legislative or regulatory action requiring them to do so. Workers must be held harmless during any disruption that accompanies the reshoring process, with financial support from the federal government if necessary.
And finally, the working class can’t wait. The auto companies have been given time to plan, and now it’s time to act.
To read a News Release from Canada’s Unifor Union, click on – Trump attacks Canadian auto jobs with unjust tariffs | Unifor
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