Published Feb 11, 2025 at 4:23 PM EST on Newsweek.com
The 600,000-member International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM) Union, for decades the largest aerospace and defense labor union in the U.S. and Canada, is relieved that President Donald Trump has paused his tariff war with Canada.
The IAM is all for the strategic use of tariffs to rebuild domestic manufacturing, enforce workers’ rights, and stop trade cheating. But slapping tariffs on goods traded between the U.S. and Canada will drive up prices and cripple demand, leading to job losses in several industries across both nations.
When it comes to U.S. and Canadian aerospace trade, for example, the proposed 25 percent tariffs would be fatal friendly fire.
The proposed across-the-board tariffs would threaten the livelihoods and families of manufacturing and other workers in aerospace and defense in both nations, as well as the future of an industry vital to national security, transportation, and innovation.
Our members assemble civilian and military aircraft, build missiles and rockets, and manufacture parts and components. They also provide skilled, technical maintenance, repair, and overhaul services for such equipment.
Our workers have already been slammed by decades of imbalanced and unenforced trade agreements and policies. We have seen mass offshoring of vital jobs in the aerospace industry, thanks to trade policies that treated workers as pawns. Millions of good-paying, high-skilled U.S. and Canadian jobs were shifted to countries where workers have little to no labour rights so wages are low and conditions are dangerous.
The proposed tariffs would be a direct assault on the deeply integrated supply chains that provide the backbone of aerospace manufacturing. The consequences could be devastating: production delays and lack of military readiness, increased costs and, most critically, the potential loss of thousands of IAM Union jobs in aerospace, shipbuilding, and defense manufacturing across the U.S. and Canada.
Why? The U.S. and Canadian aerospace industries are tightly linked. Many Canadian aircraft contain numerous U.S.-made parts. Canadian companies source components from major U.S. corporations as well as countless small- and medium-sized businesses across every U.S. state. This symbiotic relationship also means that Canadian aerospace and defense companies employ a significant number of people in the U.S.
Imposing tariffs on Canada would be like cutting off our nose to spite our face. It would disrupt U.S. exports, break well-established supply chains, and undermine the competitiveness of our aerospace and defense industries just as China is making historic investments to build its own air and sea capacity.
Indeed, according to the U.S. International Trade Administration, Canada is the second-largest destination for U.S. exports of civil aircraft, engines, and parts while the U.S. is the biggest destination for such Canadian exports.
The tariffs would decimate an industry that contributes more than $874 billion to the U.S. economy, and nearly $30 billion to Canada’s GDP. It also supports more than 2 million American workers in good jobs worth an average of $104,577 in total wages and benefits, and 218,000 such jobs in Canada.
The U.S. and Canadian aerospace and defense industries are a rare bright spot—together, we export more than we import. Plus, goods trade between the U.S. and Canada is balanced if you control for Canadian oil exports. These tariffs could destroy that success.
Rather than engaging in short-sighted trade wars, we need a comprehensive, long-term strategy that strengthens manufacturing and prioritizes workers’ interests. This reprieve offers the opportunity for workers and unions from both countries to participate in developing these solutions.
A new strategy requires a fundamental shift in approach.
We need a united front—government, businesses, industry associations, and labor—working together to forge a trade policy that benefits all stakeholders. Workers must have a voice in decisions that directly affect their lives and livelihoods, and must not be treated as bargaining chips.
And IAM’s high-skilled and experienced workforce has a lot to contribute to creating a winning approach. We stand ready to engage in meaningful discussions with our nations’ leaders, share our expertise, and work towards solutions that ensure a stable, prosperous future for U.S. and Canadian aerospace, defense and manufacturing.
To defend our nations, maintain our global standing and rebuild our production capacity and resilient supply chains, we must invest in developing future generations of well-trained workers.
This is not just about protecting jobs. At issue is preserving and strengthening a critical sector that contributes significantly greatly to both the U.S and Canadian economies and national security.
