OTTAWA—Auto industry and union representatives fear the Mark Carney-led Liberal government is willing to push off tough auto sector talks about American tariffs to whenever formal negotiations on a scheduled review of the North American free trade deal get underway.

But they warn that is not an option, and puts the future of major companies and thousands of jobs at risk.

Lana Payne, head of Unifor, the largest private sector union that speaks for hundreds of thousands of auto, aluminum, and forestry workers, said in an interview Trump’s punishing tariffs on steel, aluminum, autos, copper and forestry are “strategic, surgical and designed to destroy Canada’s industrial economy.”

She said the Carney government should not give into any temptation to cut early side deals with Trump on some

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