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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