The Trump administration is out with its wish list for the re-negotiation of the North American Free Trade Agreement.
The US says it wants more access for its agriculture, telecommunications and construction industries while maintaining some 'buy American' exemptions.
The objectives also include Canada raising its duty-free limit from $20 to $800.
Speaking to AM800's sister station in Ottawa, Unifor president Jerry Dias sees the list as "shooting for the moon" — but says it's not that bad.
"I thought it would be worse, but it wasn't as aggressive as I thought it would be to be dead straight with ya, so we'll see where this thing ends up," says Dias.
He says there are a couple of sticking points he thinks the Canadian government needs to fight back on including the Trump administration's push to do away with the Chapter 19 dispute-settlement arrangement.
"If the United States thinks they can walk in and just say 'here's what we want,' and somehow everybody's going to bow down and say 'yes sir, thank you very much' — not going to happen," says Dias. "I would die on that hill. Same thing — I would die on that hill for auto if in fact this thing is structured that all the work continues to go to Mexico."
He says getting rid of the dispute-settlement mechanism is a step too far and could be devastating to Canadian industry.
"The softwood lumber dispute that we're dealing with right now with the United States — under Chapter 19 we've won every dispute since 1983," says Dias. "That's the only reason that we still have a softwood lumber industry here in Canada, I would argue. They want to get rid of it. They want to play by their own rules and that is absolutely a hill to die on."
Dias expects the auto industry to be a focus in the NAFTA talks.
"Well, there's no question we're going to talk about auto. I've had two discussions with [Commerce Secretary] Wilbur Ross in Washington; I mean it is clear that they understand that the problem is not Canada — the problem, candidly, is Mexico," says Dias. "The American workers have been negatively impacted in the auto industry as much as the Canadians."
Dias feels Canada is in a good position to get a stronger NAFTA deal this time around.
"It's an opportunity and it's an opportunity we ought not waste."
Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland says she is prepared to start negotiating, saying the Trudeau government welcomes the opportunity to modernize NAFTA.
NAFTA negotiations are expected to begin mid-August.