WASHINGTON — As tensions between the United States and Canada have deepened, a longstanding historical divide has reopened between the countries’ biggest automotive unions.

The United Auto Workers, which represented workers from both countries until a 1985 split, has diverged on tariffs in recent months from Canada's Unifor. The Detroit-based union has shown tempered support for President Donald Trump’s signature policy, while the Toronto-based labor group has fiercely opposed new levies.

The two groups, Unifor National President Lana Payne said in an August video interview, have not worked together on a unified messaging or lobbying strategy since the tariff dispute began. "There hasn't been any of that," she said.

The rift highlights the difficulty of maintaining solidarity — a common refrain in organized labor — when international conflicts and competing priorities arise. UAW President Shawn Fain has continued to pitch a vision of working-class unity regardless of country, but his Canadian counterpart has warned that the American union's "shortsighted" position on import taxes is bad for workers on both sides of the border.

The UAW's heavy U.S. focus, labor historians said, was also a driver in the 1985 union divorce that resulted in a separate Canadian Auto Workers organization. That union merged with others in Canada to become Unifor in 2013.

"We have to be strategic," Payne told The Detroit News. "And hopefully we'll get to a better place where we're able to work together again on these things."

The tariff landscape between the United States, Canada and the rest of the world is complicated and oft-changing thanks to Trump. His administration — for now — has in place a 27.5% import tax rate on automotive products coming to the United States from Canada, but there are partial exemptions for goods that comply with a free trade agreement Trump signed during his first term.

There are also 50% tariffs on steel and aluminum, 35% tariffs on most goods that do not comply with the United States-Canada-Mexico free trade agreement and 10% on noncompliant potash and energy products.

Goods flowing into the United States from Canada so far have faced a significantly lower tax burden than those from other countries, but Payne has still raised serious concerns about the current and future impact of tariffs on both Canadian and U.S. workers.

"The full impact of the tariffs has not worked its way through the system yet, because of either inventories or other reasons," she said, pointing specifically to the steel tariffs. "But that is going to be a pressure point and a pain point for a number of industries.

"Somebody pays for these tariffs. In my mind, it's often the workers.

"One, they lose their jobs. Two, their bargaining power is weakened with the companies," Payne added. "If the companies are paying billions and billions of dollars out in tariffs, that means when we get to a bargaining table, the pressure to take concessions is going to be high. And workers will get squeezed."

Though Payne said she was not aware of any auto plant closures in Canada resulting from Trump's tariffs, she said workers are feeling the pain through shift reductions, decreased production and layoffs.

Different approaches

The UAW's Fain, like Payne, has also used the word "strategic" to describe his view of tariffs. But rather than making calculated moves to fight them, he has lobbied for them — with criticism of how the Trump administration is managing the levies.

"All this mixed messaging, all this changing every other week, and somebody gets a different deal one week, and then it changes the next week — you can't run policy that way,” Fain said.

“We can't run a country that way, and businesses can't run that way, and we can't effect change that way. They’ve got to have a strategic plan in place. Auto tariffs work," he told The News at an Aug. 14 rally supporting laid-off steelworkers at Cleveland-Cliffs Inc.’s Dearborn Works site in Michigan.

He continued: "They worked for decades, until (the North American Free Trade Agreement) happened. NAFTA ruined all that, and they all went away, and we've seen the mass exodus of all of our manufacturing jobs since that time. So, tariffs work, but it has to be strategic.”

There may be some common ground between Fain and Payne, as both have been critical of recently announced U.S. trade deals that could result in lower automotive tariffs for overseas trading partners than North American neighbors.

"When it comes to those deals, whether it's Japan or the EU, we should not compare apples with oranges," Payne said. "Canada is not Japan. Canada is not the EU. We already have a trade agreement with the United States. We have an integrated industry."

Fain made a similar argument, echoing a point made vigorously by Ford Motor Co. in the wake of those deal announcements: "You're punishing American companies doing business in this country, in North America, while you're giving people overseas a better deal than companies here,” he said. “To me, the 25% tariff should have been across the board, period, and don't deviate from it.”

Asked about communication with his Canadian counterpart, the UAW president said: "We talk with Unifor. We talk with unions all over the globe.”

Payne, however, said on Aug. 1 that no recent conversations related to trade or tariff matters had taken place. In an update some four weeks later, the Canadian union again said that the two parties had not reengaged in cooperative discussions on the topic.

"The challenge was the position earlier on that the UAW took on tariffs, and that just made it really difficult," Payne said, referring to Fain's March proclamation that Trump's auto levies would help "end the free trade disaster that has devastated working class communities for decades."

The U.S. union, which marked its 90th anniversary last week, has affirmed its support of tariffs as a viable long-term strategy to retain auto manufacturing in the United States, even if there are short-term disruptions.

Payne, trying to appeal to the sensibilities of U.S. workers, called the UAW's support for tariffs shortsighted. "Because if you're an auto worker in the United States today, and you're watching the loss of money, the loss of billions of dollars in profits, you know that's going to impact you," she said.

"Workers on the shop floor are very smart, and you know, this is going to impact their profit-sharing checks," the Canadian union leader added, referring to annual payouts the UAW makes to unionized workers for the Detroit Three automakers. Payouts are calculated at pre-set rates in the union's collective bargaining agreements.

Those sums have reached record levels in recent years thanks to strong profits and newly negotiated payout rates, but they could take a hit thanks to tariffs.

General Motors Co. CEO Mary Barra, notably, said in May that she expects tariff costs between $4 billion and $5 billion this year. Crosstown rival Ford said in July that it expects a $2 billion hit to adjusted operating profits in 2025 due to tariffs, and Stellantis NV estimated a full-year tariff impact between $1 billion and $1.5 billion.

As for the Canadian workers she represents, Payne projected confidence that Unifor would succeed in protecting its members from the worst consequences of companies adjusting their business practices amid Trump's trade war.

"We've been at a lot of bargaining tables in our union," she said. "We have almost 3,000 collective agreements. We bargain with the biggest employers in the world. We know leverage. We know bullies. We know how to deal with complicated and intense moments like this."

Does Canada undercut U.S. labor?

As Payne and Unifor navigate the current tariff environment, one prominent Michigan politician has accused Canada of undermining U.S. workers.

"They undercut our labor prices and protect their own industries," said Republican U.S. Rep. John James in an Aug. 1 video criticizing Canada for several issues amid smoke from blazing wildfires affecting U.S. air quality.

While making that claim, James' video displayed a U.S. International Trade Administration webpage noting technical barriers to trade with Canada, including differences in cheese compositional standards, ongoing collaboration between the two countries on plastics regulations, a soon-to-be-repealed digital services tax that Trump advocated against, and government oversight of foreign investment.

“President Trump is right to take a firm stand against those who undercut our workers, ignore our border, and dodge defense duties. The free pass is over," said James, who is running for governor, in a later statement.

Labor experts said James' claim was questionable.

Scott Lincicome, a vice president of economics at the Cato Institute, disputed the notion that Canada undercuts U.S. labor prices. "Canadians' median income is a little bit lower than those in America, he said. "But there's really no reason to think that this would be a driving force in bilateral trade, because the difference really is not big enough to matter," he said.

Lincicome added: "Labor costs are important, but there are a dozen other things that are important as well. And it's highly unlikely that companies are flocking to Canada for cheap labor."

Marick Master, professor emeritus of management at Wayne State University, said it is "unfair" and "not that simple" to suggest that Canada undercuts U.S. labor.

"I wouldn't say companies and automakers look at Canada like it's an overall better deal. The economies are comparable," he said. Masters emphasized that wages in Mexico have historically been a far bigger sticking point in North American trade talks.

Art Wheaton, director of labor studies at Cornell University's School of Industrial and Labor Relations, also said there is "not a simple answer" in assessing James' claim and noted significant differences in labor laws that make comparisons difficult.

"The amount of money (automakers) spend on UAW health insurance is pretty astronomical in terms of what health insurance is costing people. But in Canada, you have national health care, so you don't have that same thing," the professor said.

Unions stronger in Canada

Wheaton, still weighing James' comments, also pointed to better protections for unions within Canada and economic dependence — especially in the auto sector — on U.S.-based companies.

"The problem you have, is there is no Canadian original equipment manufacturer," he said. "Everything is dependent on either GM, Ford, Stellantis, or for non-union, Honda and Toyota. They're completely dependent on them because they don't have their own Canadian-based car company, and that creates huge problems of strength at the table."

That combination of no Canadian OEM and stronger labor laws, according to Wheaton, may have contributed to fiercer negotiation strategies over decades by groups like the Canadian Auto Workers and the Canadian Union of Public Employees.

"The Canadians can be a little more assertive or aggressive in their approach to bargaining," he said. "And that's what happened over the years for Unifor compared to the UAW."

Wheaton recalled a 1996 strike at GM's Oshawa Assembly plant in Bowmanville, Ontario, that forced the automaker to lay off nearly 20,000 GM and parts supplier workers in the U.S. and Mexico because of parts-flow disruptions. He also mentioned a strike by CUPE-represented flight attendants in recent weeks that caused thousands of Air Canada flight cancellations.

Payne, for her part, bashed James' claim in an emailed statement: “It is frustrating to hear Mr. James’ comments, which are completely backward. Contrary to what James says, Canadian labor standards are far superior to the United States, in many respects.

"Canada boasts a union rate that is three times larger than America, resulting in better workplace protections and stronger wages. In fact, adjusting for purchasing power, Canadian workers are paid a median hourly wage more than 6% higher than Americans.

"In past years — well before President Trump’s tariffs — we’ve had major employers leave Canada for the U.S., to pad profits and take advantage of deplorably low wages and unfair laws, especially in Right to Work states — where unions and union supporters are roundly attacked, and poverty rates remain high.”

The UAW's Fain, when asked if he sees an opportunity to work with Unifor on trade issues, highlighted broader struggles facing unions.

"Here's the problem. We can't continue to let corporate America and global corporations and the rich divide working-class people. Working-class people are suffering everywhere," he said. "We're all suffering the same fate, and they're taking advantage of destitute people in places like Mexico and other countries.

"And that's what all of this is about. It's driving a race to the bottom. So we've got to come together, even as organized labor, and figure out how we can combat that.”

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