Thank you.
On behalf of the members in the steel and aluminum industry, I want to thank you for this opportunity to speak to the committee on the crisis that becomes more intense with each passing day the tariffs are in place.
With me is Jamal Shaker from our national office research team.
The Steelworkers is the primary Canadian union representing workers of steel and aluminum. The absurd section 232 tariffs continue to cause massive uncertainty for 175,000 Canadian workers, whose jobs are directly or indirectly tied to steel and aluminum industries.
I want to say right off the top, Canada must not commit to signing the USMCA unless and until there is a guarantee that the steel and aluminum tariffs will be repealed. It is a massive betrayal of our steel and aluminum members that the tariffs still remain after the conclusion of the USMCA negotiations.
Canada is the United States' closest trading partner. It is completely inconsistent to sign a new trade agreement that will govern the commercial relations between the U.S. and Canada for decades to come while at the same time maintaining these illegal and punishing tariffs. I must also note that the dangerous precedent of including references to section 232 tariffs in a side letter of the USMCA only serves to legitimize what has been an obscure clause in U.S. trade law, a clause that is supposed to deal with real national security issues. The longer these tariffs are in place, the more devastating they become. We have already seen layoffs in Sault Ste. Marie as a result of the tariffs; 45% of our steel industry is at risk from these tariffs.
Remember, 90% of both steel and aluminum exports from Canada go to the United States. We have seen a sharp decline in those exports since the tariffs came into effect. The impact of the tariffs is only worsened by the events like the new, now 10-month lockout of our members at the Alcoa aluminum smelter in Bécancour, Quebec.
The steelworkers on both sides of the Canada-U.S. border reiterate our common position that the section 232 tariffs must be cancelled now and unconditionally. Further, quotas must not be seen as a trade-off for tariff removals. We oppose any system that only helps some part of the industry while harming others. We call quotas nothing more than voluntary export restraints. The tariffs and threats of quotas are already having a negative impact on the steel industry. For example, we've been anticipating an announcement that steel will again be made at the Hilton Works facility in Hamilton. Now that we are mired in this trade war, the uncertainty has delayed any such decision. We can only imagine the impact if Canada agrees to a quota.
As well, the proposal to base quotas on historical averages with entrenched Canadian export levels has been negatively impacted by global overcapacity from bad international actors such as China. We would like to emphasize that our impact of the tariffs goes beyond steel and aluminum. Our union also represents workers across the manufacturing sector, where smaller companies employing our members are also feeling the impact of the tariffs with increasing layoffs and slowdowns. Repeating what we said to this committee on July 31, to protect workers in manufacturing, particularly those in small and medium enterprises, the Steelworkers assert that the worker and industry support package must cover industries across the supply chain.
We must ensure that the industry supports are going to go to those who need them, particularly where there is a real threat to the good jobs. We also emphasize the need for improved worker support, including additional reform to employment insurance, and work among unions, business and government to prevent as much job loss as possible. Not only are our members suffering from the uncertainty caused by tariffs in Canada, but they're also dealing with the ripple effects of the tariffs Trump first imposed on the rest of the world in March.
Imports of certain steel products to Canada have surged, threatening good Canadian jobs across the industry. Since March, the Steelworkers has been calling for additional trade remedies to counteract these abnormal increases in imports from non-NAFTA countries. While we were relieved when the Ministry of Finance finally announced interim safeguard measures earlier last month, we were puzzled why it took some five months to have these measures implemented.
We also support the remission order listed by the government, in particular, as I said earlier, to protect the jobs in manufacturing.
In conclusion, the Canadian government must do everything in its power to eliminate the section 232 tariffs. That means standing up to the Trump administration and drawing a line in the sand. We must not sign the USMCA unless their tariffs are removed.
The government has already lost one opportunity to cancel the tariffs. Do not sell out our steel and aluminum workers again.
I would refer you to our full submission, which we filed with this committee on Tuesday. My colleague Shaker and I are here to answer any questions that you may have.
Thank you for the opportunity.