North American aerospace union presses Trump to pause tariffs on Canada

The United States should pause tariffs on Canada as it did on Mexico, the head of the largest North American aerospace union told Reuters on Monday, as industry executives weighed the impact of fresh duties on plane parts and jets. U.S. President Donald Trump announced executive orders that would impose tariffs of 25% on Canadian imports and 10% on goods from China starting on Tuesday. Trump had planned a 25% tariff on Mexico, but that was delayed after a Monday call with Mexico's president. "I would think they would do the same thing for Canada," said Brian Bryant, international president of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM), which represents workers at planemakers such as Boeing. "We just have so many jobs in the U.S. that export aerospace goods to Canada for their programs up there and we wouldn't want to see those jobs jeopardized by that." Bryant said Trump should meet with unions such as the IAM to hear workers' views. Some IAM members voted for Trump and probably did not envision "that their jobs are going to be impacted by the potential of what he might do with tariffs," he said. Tariffs would add complexity and higher costs to planemaking, with a tight supply chain limiting firms' ability to find alternative parts. Canada exported C$12.8b ($8.78b) of aerospace and defense-related products to the U.S. and imported C$10.2b worth, according to 2023 government data. Bombardier shares tumbled as much as 13% before paring losses to around 2%. The Canadian business jet maker said in a statement it will use the coming days to analyze multiple scenarios to avert fallout.<br/>