Trump's opposition to trade deals could help Canadian workers, says union president

President-elect Donald Trump made his antipathy towards the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) and the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) clear during his campaign.

Jerry Dias is the president of Unifor, Canada's largest private-sector union. He spoke with David Common on Metro Morning about how Trump's approach to free tradecould impact the Canadian manufacturing sector.

Questions and answers have been condensed

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David Common: If you take Trump at his word, the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) is dead. What do you think?

Jerry Dias: The TPP is a flawed deal to say the least. It's a disaster for Canada, so if he blocks it in the U.S. and it's dead then frankly I would applaud it. The Japanese ship 159,000 vehicles a year into Canada and we ship about 100 back. Harper's government was completely incompetent when it came to protecting the auto industry here in Canada. So if it gets blocked in the U.S., I applaud it

DC: Then there's talk of renegotiating the North American Free Trade Agreement, easier said than done. What do you make of that?

JD: NAFTA has been a disaster for Canada. We've lost 50,000 direct auto jobs. The last eight assembly plants have opened in Mexico while we've closed two. We've lost a half a million manufacturing jobs, so the reality is NAFTA hasn't been kind to us either. But let's be candid, NAFTA and the TPP aren't trade deals. They're all about investor rights.

NAFTAhas been a disaster for Canada. We've lost 50,000 direct auto jobs.- Jerry Dias, President, Unifor

This is about international corporations having the right to do whatever they want, it has nothing to do with labour standards or workers.

DC: So you understand the disillusionment some people feel about these trade deals.

JD: I agree with the fact that working class people have gotten the short end of trade deals. I don't support Donald Trump I think he's racist, sexist, anti-immigrant, and a foolish person in so many regards. But I completely understand the disillusionment. If you go through the rust belt, there has been a major exodus of jobs. Those auto jobs are now in Mexico. In Canada, we used to build 3.4 million vehicles a year, today we build 2.3 million. Mexico builds about 10 million a year. It has been a straight exodus of the best manufacturing jobs in U.S. and Canada to Mexico, and does that have working people upset? Yes.

DC: Are you worried about the idea of renegotiating NAFTA without knowing what's on the other side?

JD: It can't get worse for us, to be perfectly honest. I'm nervous when he talks about slapping a 35% tariff on imported vehicles, because 85% of vehicles we build here in Canada go to the U.S. But there definitely has to be a renegotiation of NAFTA and our Canadian government has to fight for us. For us, historically, it's been about bargaining a philosophy, not protecting Canadian workers.

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