Industry leaders and politicians in Quebec are furious over U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariff order on aluminum imports, calling the move a brutal, unjustifiable blow to the province.
On Monday, Trump signed an executive order to levy 25 per cent tariffs on all steel and aluminum entering the U.S. starting March 12.
Hours before Premier François Legault left for Washington, D.C., Tuesday alongside other Canadian premiers, he called Trump’s move a “totally unjustifiable decision.”
“Quebec is the largest aluminum importer to the U.S.,” he wrote on X. “I will be there to vigorously defend our interests and workers.”
François Racine, president and CEO of AluQuébec, which represents over 40,000 workers who process and transform aluminum, told Global News he is in disbelief at the announcement.
“It will increase its price in North America by at least 25 per cent, along with everything made with aluminum,” Racine said. “Everything will get more expensive, further increasing inflation, which is what Trump said he wanted to fight.”
Industry leaders on both sides of the border are dumbfounded by the tariff threat, Racine said.
“The industry will get less competitive, so the danger long-term is that products made with the metal in North America will be a lot more expensive than the same products made in other regions,” he said.
“It’s just another bullying tactic from the U.S. president.”
‘A significant impact on the smaller companies’
Government data shows Quebec accounts for 60 per cent of aluminum used in the U.S., and 90 per cent of the aluminum produced in Canada, meaning it’s the supplier of most of the metal in North America.
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Racine says the vast majority of the industry’s workers aren’t employed by big corporations, but by smaller processing companies, which are largely dependent on the American market.
“We are talking a significant impact on the smaller companies.”
The revenue from aluminum processing amounts to $11.6 billion, according to AluQuébec.
Data from the International Trade Administration shows the United States is Canada’s largest market for aluminum, with more than three million tonnes exported last year. Its second-largest supplier is the United Arab Emirates.
Canada’s aluminum smelters are mainly located in Quebec, with the largest smelter in the country located in Sept-Îles.
‘The greenest aluminum in the world’
According to Investissement Québec, Canada is the fourth-largest producer of primary aluminum in the world, with an annual production of 3.2 million metric tonnes (90 per cent of it out of Quebec).
Aluminum is the second-largest economic sector in the province after aerospace, with an export value of $7.1 billion. The sector represents 10 per cent of the province’s export market.
It says its aluminum is “the greenest in the world,” as more than 97 per cent of all energy produced in the province is renewable and almost entirely hydroelectric.
“Primary aluminum produced in Quebec generates 67 per cent and 76 per cent less greenhouse gas than primary aluminum produced in the Middle East or China, respectively, Investissement Québec says.
Trudeau says Canada will push back
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has said Ottawa will work to convince Trump that his steel and aluminum tariffs will hurt both countries.
A senior government official said Tuesday that Trudeau spoke with U.S. Vice-President JD Vance about the impact steel tariffs would have in Ohio, which Vance previously represented in the U.S. Senate.
Trudeau said his government would “be working with the American administration over the coming weeks to highlight the negative impacts on Americans and Canadians of these unacceptable tariffs.”
This is the second time Trump has imposed such tariffs against Canada. In 2018, he imposed 25 per cent on steel and 10 per cent on aluminum. Those tariffs lasted for about a year.
–with files from Sean Previl and The Canadian Press
