[CTC] Workers Must Come First in CUSMA — No Trade Deal at the Expense of Jobs, Industry, or Public Services

[Arthur Stamoulis]

*Our Canadian friends on the USMCA renegotiation...*

https://canadianlabour.ca/workers-must-come-first-in-cusma-no-trade-deal-at-the-expense-of-jobs-industry-or-public-services/
Workers Must Come First in CUSMA — No Trade Deal at the Expense of Jobs,
Industry, or Public Services

OTTAWA – Today, Canada’s unions met Minister Dominic LeBlanc, Minister
responsible for Canada-U.S. Trade, Intergovernmental Affairs and One
Canadian Economy, for a high-level Roundtable on the upcoming 2026 review
of the Canada-United States Mexico Agreement (CUSMA) to deliver a clear and
urgent message: workers must come first.

Canadian Labour Congress President Bea Bruske was joined by leaders from
several of Canada’s largest manufacturing and building trades unions
representing workers whose jobs, communities, and futures depend directly
on trade and industrial policy decisions.

With renewed U.S. tariff threats and growing trade instability, unions
warned the federal government against repeating the mistakes of the past:
trading away domestic production, good union jobs, and industrial capacity
in pursuit of an agreement at any cost.

“Any deal that undermines Canadian jobs or weakens Canada’s ability to
build its own economy would be worse than no deal at all,” said Bruske.
“The United States has increasingly abandoned the rules-based trading
system, using trade pressure to weaken workers, destabilize supply chains,
and advantage corporations. Canada must respond from a position of
strength, not concession, and refuse to sacrifice workers to appease U.S.
demands.”

The CLC is urging the federal government to remain laser-focused on a
workers-first trade policy that preserves and expands Canadian jobs,
strengthens domestic industry, and regulatory space to invest in domestic
manufacturing, supply-chain resilience, and future industries. Canada
continues to bleed production and jobs due to U.S. sectoral tariffs on
auto, softwood lumber, and other industries, with widening impacts on
communities and local economies. The government must urgently work to have
these tariffs removed.

At the negotiating table, Canada must defend its right to pursue active
industrial policy, enforce strong labour protections, and expand domestic
value-added production. Trade rules must not be used to undermine workers’
rights, public services, industrial development, or fair wages.

Unions also pressed for a strong, enforceable labour chapter in any renewed
agreement, including expanded use of the Rapid Response Mechanism to hold
employers accountable for labour rights violations across North America.

The message from labour was unified and unequivocal: the CUSMA review must
strengthen Canadian industries and working-class communities, not hollow
them out. The government must engage with unions and bring them into the
trade negotiations; unions know their industries better than anyone else.
Workers do not want the government trading away their jobs, livelihoods, or
economic future just to renew a flawed deal.
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