DRUMMONDVILLE, Quebec — Fury over President Donald Trump’s steel and aluminum tariffs is fueling growing anxiety across Canada — especially in this working-class Quebec city where some 18% of local jobs are linked to the U.S.
Manufacturing accounts for 26% of gross economic output in Drummondville, according to Louis-Charles L Baril, director at the mayor’s office here. He added that 3,000 jobs are now at risk — and up to 100,000 could be slashed throughout Quebec, which is hosting an American delegation as part of G7 meetings this week.
“This economic war is not benefiting anybody,” Baril said. “Both parties are losing here.”
Trump’s 25% tariffs on steel and aluminum took effect overnight, dealing another blow to a neighborly alliance and escalating a trade war with no end in sight. In response, Canadian authorities announced new retaliatory tariffs. The Central Bank of Canada lowered interest rates by a quarter-percent to cushion the country’s economy. On Thursday, several Canadian federal ministers and Ontario Premier Doug Ford plan to meet with U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick in Washington over the trade war.
Dominic LeBlanc, Canada’s minister of intergovernmental affairs, said the conversation will center around “lowering the temperature” and looking ahead to Trump’s planned announcement of additional reciprocal tariffs starting April 2.
“The conversation tomorrow will be what can we do to deal with this completely unjustified application of tariffs to steel and aluminum,” LeBlanc said. “If we can sort of clear the underbrush and get to a position where we can get to April 2 with a coherent plan, I certainly think that would be the objective of the conversation tomorrow.”
The impact is particularly acute in Drummondville. Jean-François Nadeau has worked at Matritech Inc., a metal processing company, for 25 years. He said the confusion and uncertainty are devastating.
“Why is [Trump] doing that?” he asked, visibly frustrated. “We don’t understand.”
Matritech does not directly ship its products to the U.S., but its contractors do — and the tariffs are expected to drastically alter the supply chain.
“We are kind of becoming crazy right now,” Nadeau said. “It’s going too fast. On the morning, he says something. By the afternoon, he says something else.”
Nadeau saw business flourish during Trump’s first term in office, but now he believes he is leading both countries into a crisis.
“Why are you doing that? Why are you making those tariffs? Because we have a good agreement,” Nadeau said. “We are good neighbors. We are good friends.”
Daniel Guevremont, who works in business development for Matritech, agrees there can still be a partnership between the U.S. and Canada: “We still want to work with him. We want to still work with the American people … We want to be partners for, again, a long time.”
Amid the turmoil over tariffs, Secretary of State Marco Rubio is set to arrive at a G7 foreign ministers’ meeting in Charlevoix, Quebec, about 180 miles from Drummondville, later on Wednesday. Canadian officials have said they plan to strongly raise their opposition to the Trump administration’s actions.
“In every single meeting, I will raise the issue of tariffs to coordinate a response with the Europeans and to put pressure on the Americans,” said Mélanie Joly, Canada’s minister of foreign affairs.
Joly cautioned that the issue is about more than the economy.
“It is about the future of our country,” she said. “Canadian sovereignty and identity are nonnegotiable. Canadians have had enough, and we are a strong country. We’ll defend our sovereignty, we’ll defend our jobs, and we’ll defend our way of living.”
Rubio, speaking to reporters in Ireland while traveling to the meeting, framed the U.S. policy as important for national security.
“The president feels strongly, and I personally agree, that we have made some decisions when it comes to trade policies that have led to the deindustrialization of America and have left us deeply vulnerable to any sort of interruptions,” Rubio said.
He said there would be no talk about the U.S. annexing its neighbor to the north, after Trump has repeatedly said he wants Canada to become the “51st state.”
“It is not a meeting about how we’re going to take over Canada,” Rubio said.
Nadeau, the director at the metal processing company, said that he still considers the American people allies. But he’s furious at Trump, especially for his suggestions that Canada would become part of the U.S.
“It’s not a joke anymore,” he said.
