Facing tariff threat, Quebec premier tries to reassure workers in aluminum industry

Quebec Premier François Legault is warning Americans they will pay the price if President Donald Trump goes ahead with 25 per cent tariffs on Canadian exports — particularly the province’s aluminum.

Trump said Thursday he would impose tariffs by Saturday, though his administration has not provided details and it remains unclear what sectors could be affected.

The Wall Street Journal reported the tariffs could be more targeted, focusing on sectors such as steel and aluminum.

Aluminum is the second largest sector in Quebec after aerospace, representing 10 per cent of the province’s export market. 

Legault toured an aluminum plant Thursday in Sept-Îles in an attempt to reassure workers that he will keep fighting for their jobs.

“If Mr. Trump’s goal is to replace products made in Quebec, that’s not possible,” Legault said.

“He’ll have to import aluminum from other countries. In any case, this means a significant increase in the prices paid by American buyers.”

Tariffs were levied on steel and aluminum the last time Trump was in office. In 2018, he put a 25 per cent surtax on steel imports and a 10 per cent surtax on aluminum imports. The measures were lifted the following year.

This time around, Trump has threatened to impose tariffs across the economy.

The United States is by far Quebec’s biggest trading partner. In 2023, the province exported just over $87 billion in goods to the U.S., according to the Institut de la statistique du Québec.

Legault has tried to make the case before that the tariffs would hurt American consumers.

In an op-ed in the U.S. publication The Hill earlier this month, he said the levies would hurt “the American economy, many of its businesses and especially ordinary Americans by causing a new inflationary surge.” 

‘We are very integrated’

Véronique Proulx, head of the Quebec Federation of Chambers of Commerce, recently met with business leaders in the United States, and said Quebec and Canada need to be ready to respond.

Those responses could include retaliatory tariffs on American imports, assistance to Canadian businesses and removing interprovincial trade barriers that hamper shipments between provinces.

“We — the Quebec and Canadian government — need to look at the levers that they do have in hand,” she said.

Gilles Pelletier, head of the Quebec Furniture Manufacturers Association, said his industry will need to turn toward the market within Canada if the tariffs go into effect.

But he said that would be a challenge, given that the United States accounts for a third of the sector’s business and New York is far closer to Quebec than western Canada.

“We are very integrated,” he said.