Donald Trump’s threatened trade war became reality on March 4th, as the U.S. President imposed 25 per cent tariffs on most Canadian goods. Experts have pointed out that Trump’s unjustified trade war will deeply harm workers, farmers, and families in both countries. Amid the President’s repeated threats against Canadian sovereignty since he took office on January 20th, many are claiming that our economy has become far too reliant on the United States. This is exactly what Canadian feminists warned us about nearly forty years ago.
Hundreds of paper records in the Women’s Archives at the University of Ottawa, where I work, document feminist opposition to the ratification of CUSFTA (Canada-United States Free Trade Agreement) in 1988 and NAFTA (North American Free Trade Agreement) in 1994. The National Action Committee on the Status of Women and its then vice president, economist Marjorie Griffin Cohen, claimed that a Mulroney-Reagan free trade deal would have an outsized impact on women workers in the manufacturing sector. After the implementation of CUSFTA, tens of thousands of workers lost their unionized jobs in the garment industry, where women accounted for 90% of the labour force.
Brian Mulroney’s campaign for free trade targeted women voters by enclosing promotional material in baby bonus cheques. In response, Women’s Committees of the Ontario NDP, The Ontario Federation of Labour, and other interested groups organized a coalition called Women Against Free Trade in 1988. Their manifesto warned that in addition to losing thousands of well paid, unionized jobs, Mulroney’s trade deal would yield the following results: 1) A steady decline in working conditions and the decimation of organized labour 2) An increase in part-time, low waged, non-unionized jobs 3) Loss of our fragile cultural sovereignty, and 4) Enrichment of the wealthiest Canadians on the backs of working people.
Most importantly, Women Against Free Trade warned that “the more economically and culturally dependent on the U.S. we become, the less political autonomy we actually have,” jeopardizing Canada’s potential for taking politically independent positions on global issues. Even domestically, Mulroney’s trade deals hamstrung the country’s ability to implement new public programs, requiring either permission from Canada’s trading partners or government compensation to the private sector. In other words, NAFTA created an increased demand for social services and prevented the federal government from meeting it.
Working people continue to struggle against long-term political impacts of short-sighted neoliberal policymaking. The loss of well-paying, unionized manufacturing jobs in the 1980s and 90s fostered deep cultural divides between those who can afford to pay exorbitant fees for higher education and those who are forever condemned to minimum wage and part-time service industry work. It has also led to young men’s increasing anger and alienation, turning them into primary targets for reactionary, ultra-conservative ideologies such as those promoted by President Trump.
In the late 1980s, Women Against Free Trade argued that Canada should plan its trade partnerships keeping both social and economic goals in mind. They also suggested the international diversification of trade as an alternative to the continental trade bloc, a proposition that our country is just beginning to take seriously. As we respond to the U.S. President’s unprecedented trade war, we must also ensure that our internal divisions are not magnified by the enrichment of wealthy over working people. We must prioritize our lowest paid and most vulnerable workers over competition and corporate gains. And we must finally start listening to feminists.
For the 2025-26 academic year, Archives and Special Collections at the University of Ottawa will curate a public history exhibit tentatively titled “The Feminist Economy: Women’s Perspectives on Trade and Labour.” This exhibit will explore how feminist economists, socialists, and immigrant women envisioned an economic system that could benefit all working people in Canada and disentangle our national priorities from U.S. imperialism.
To learn more about how you might use the upcoming exhibit in your classroom, reach out to us here through [email protected].
To learn more about feminist opposition to free trade in the 1980s, see Marjorie Griffin Cohen’s writing on The Canadian Women’s Movement and Its Effort to Influence the Canadian Economy, and research the following fonds here at Archives and Special Collections:
Canadian Women’s Movement Archives (CWMA) collection (10-001)
National Action Committee on the Status of Women fonds (10-124)
Women Working with Immigrant Women fonds (10-058)