The threat of 25 per cent tariffs from U.S. President Donald Trump is creating uncertainty for many Canadian and Quebec industries. Faced with this looming economic war, stress levels are rising among workers in the industries concerned, which is taking a toll on their mental health.
In Quebec, the lumber and aluminum sectors are at risk of being affected by tariffs if President Trump goes ahead with his threat. According to unions representing these workers, anxiety about job losses is being felt among them.
Unifor is Canada’s largest private sector union, representing 320,000 workers in all major sectors of the economy. In Quebec alone, it has 55,000 members, particularly in aluminum, aerospace, auto parts and forestry.
Unifor Quebec Director Daniel Cloutier said the threat of tariffs is putting pressure on workers and their families. “I wouldn’t say it’s 100 per cent of our members, but there are a lot of them. Young families, those who live in a region that depends on one or two industries in their city or town… it’s clear that it generates a lot of worry, questions, fear and all of that affects mental health,” he explained.
“We estimate that among our members, 60 per cent could be directly or indirectly affected by the increase in American tariffs,” he added. Cloutier has also noted a “significant increase” in distress calls and concerns from his members.
“There are places where we know, particularly in the auto parts sector, that are going to repatriate production to the United States because they are afraid of tariffs. So, it generates a lot of uncertainty, it generates quite real fears of possible job losses,” Cloutier emphasizes.
He believes that the threat of American tariffs adds to the pre-existing difficulties for workers, such as inflation and rising rents.
Julie Hébert, coordinator of health, safety and the environment at the Steelworkers union, agrees. She mentions that workers have already been faced with the challenges of the pandemic and the demands imposed with the recovery, inflation and more recently, an economic slowdown in certain industries. “It’s certain that the tariffs are a little bit added to this context of the last five years,” says Hébert.
“It’s still a pretty spectacular economic cycle that we’ve seen,” she continues. All of that put together, it’s certain that it causes stress. We see it a little bit with the economic slowdown, there are some members who are afraid of losing their jobs.”
The Steelworkers union is a North American union that represents 60,000 workers in Quebec, including thousands in the aluminum, steel, manufacturing, and wood cutting and processing industries.
The Steelworkers are also part of a new Canada-United States Trade Council to try to find solutions on both sides of the border.
Forest producers also affected
In Quebec, 21 per cent of the forest industry’s roundwood supply comes from 134,000 forest owners, the rest comes mainly from Quebec’s public forest.
These forest owners are people who have acquired a woodlot and who will harvest wood full-time or part-time to supply the forest industry. For the majority of them, selling wood is a secondary income, but for others, it is their main source of income.
When they sell their wood to the forest industry, producers ship the trees to a sawmill, a pulp and paper mill or a panel mill in Quebec or elsewhere in Canada, explains Vincent Miville, general manager of the Fédération des producteurs forestiers du Québec (FPFQ). “The cost of purchasing the logs is often the biggest cost of a sawmill that will transform it into lumber,” he says.
When he talks to people in the industry, he notes that there is a lot of stress about possible customs tariffs. In addition to producers, workers in mills, subcontractors and wood transporters would all be affected by an increase in tariffs.
“A forest producer who agrees to cut or harvest represents thousands or even tens of thousands of dollars in income, but also in expenses to carry out the cuts,” explains Miville.
“It’s certain that when we hear Donald Trump go out of his way in public to say that he’s going to impose tariffs on virtually all goods and products made in Canada and shipped to the United States, the forest industry, which is closely linked to its largest American customer, is very concerned about that, and it also obviously concerns forest owners and wood producers,” says the director of the FPFQ.
However, he qualifies that the wood industry has been experiencing the impact of customs tariffs for decades. “So, we have a relationship of knowledge with what happens with the tariffs,” says Miville.
Still, producers are worried, he says. “Every time there are additional tariffs, it reduces the competitiveness of the Canadian forest industry, and consequently, the ability of producers to sell roundwood to this forest industry. It undermines opportunities and yes, it can cause a certain amount of disarray or stress.”
Avec la menace de tarifs de Trump, il faut plus que jamais être solidaire et acheter québécois. pic.twitter.com/RBsegJUzZ0
— François Legault (@francoislegault) January 22, 2025
The government wants to be reassuring
This week, Premier François Legault tried to reassure Quebec workers who could be affected by a trade war with the United States.
At a press briefing Wednesday in Saint-Sauveur, he repeated that he wanted to protect Quebecers so that they are impacted as little as possible by Trump’s threat.
“We have to prepare for how we can help businesses,” said Legault. Right now, even if there are no tariffs for six months, there are already impacts unfortunately on business investments in Canada.”
He acknowledged that customs tariffs of 25 per cent would have a major impact on the Quebec economy. “We have to keep a cool head,” said Legault. We have to be able to say to ourselves: how do we get out of this, how do we replace the lost jobs, how do we respond to the Americans.”
Unifor’s Quebec director understands that the government’s promises are “helping to weather the storm,” but he’s concerned about the form that aid for workers will take. “It also creates uncertainty because we don’t know what kind of aid we’re talking about,” he says. Cloutier hopes the premier will consider compensating workers directly, not just businesses.
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The Canadian Press’ health content is funded through a partnership with the Canadian Medical Association. Editorial choices are the sole responsibility of The Canadian Press.
–This report by La Presse Canadienne was translated by CityNews
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