Canadian steel industry fears thousands of job losses from US tariffs

She referred to the US Section 232 tariffs as “devastating,” adding that Canadian steel industry participants have “significantly dropped shipments and have experienced close to one thousand job losses to date, and are preparing for thousands more.”

Recall that President Trump raised Section 232 steel and aluminum tariffs from 25% to 50% earlier this month.

Additionally, Cobden again noted that the Canadian government’s actions to safeguard the industry have so far proven insufficient.

“Last week, the Canadian government announced a package of new and future measures to address the steel sector’s concerns,” Cobden said. “While we appreciated their willingness to act, we are concerned that the immediate measures fail to address the crisis we are in.”

She stated that a tariff-rate quota system proposed by the Canadian government would still allow too many unfairly traded imports to enter.

“We believe it is long overdue to expect a rules-based trading environment within Canada. In its current form, the TRQ will do little to support our industry,” Cobden said.

Cobden said the Canadian government has set a 30-day deadline for a new economic and security relationship with the United States.

“We appreciate the government’s plan to reinstate a strong counter tariff package on the US depending on how those discussions progress,” she added.  

(Note that in a Truth Social post on Friday afternoon, Trump said, “We are hereby terminating ALL discussions on Trade with Canada, effective immediately.” This was in apparent reaction to a “Digital Services Tax” on American technology companies. SMU will report if there are any updates on this matter.)

Cobden also commented that the Canadian government has said they will review the elements of their plan in 30 days.

“It is our sincerest objective to work with the government constructively to find a path forward that supports our country and our industry as quickly as possible,” Cobden concluded.