CSPA: To secure our continental steel supply, remove tariffs on Canada

This is an opinion column. The views are those the Canadian Steel Producers Association (CSPA). They do not necessarily reflect those of SMU. We welcome you to share your thoughts as well at smu@crugroup.com.

For generations, Canada and the United States have built prosperity and security together. We have fought alongside one another in major conflicts, built institutions that underpin the Western alliance, and negotiated agreements that have integrated our economies more deeply than almost any two countries in the world.

That partnership is being tested by a challenge neither country can solve alone: China’s relentless campaign to dominate global steel markets through massive state-supported overcapacity and non-market economic practices.

Canadian steel producers understand the threat. We see it every day in global markets distorted by subsidized production and unfairly traded imports. The question is not whether North America should respond to this threat. The question is whether we will respond together.

Canada has demonstrated our willingness to act in alignment with the United States.

The Canadian government has implemented its most comprehensive steel trade enforcement regime, complementing traditional anti-dumping and countervailing duty measures with new measures designed to prevent offshore steel from overwhelming the Canadian market.

The results are already evident as our offshore imports of primary steel products under the tariff-rate quota measures have decreased by 16% in the first quarter of 2026 compared to 2025. Following the government’s decision to significantly tighten those measures on December 26, 2025, that decline is expected to deepen further. These are concrete measures designed to ensure that Canada does not become a backdoor for unfairly traded steel entering North America.

The Canadian steel industry recognizes that even stronger cooperation is possible. We support measures that would strengthen the integrity of the North American market and protect steel producers across our continent.

A CUSMA (USMCA in the US) “melt-and-pour” provision would help ensure that steel claiming North American origin is genuinely produced here. Expanded North American rules of origin for automobiles would further reinforce regional supply chains. New North American rules of origin for derivative steel products would close loopholes that currently allow foreign steel to enter the market through downstream goods.

There is also significant opportunity for Canada, the United States, and Mexico to coordinate trade enforcement actions more effectively. Enhanced customs and import data monitoring and sharing across our continent would improve the detection of transshipment schemes and other forms of trade circumvention before they undermine North American producers.

Beyond enforcement, governments should continue aligning industrial policies that strengthen North American competitiveness. Investments in infrastructure, manufacturing, energy, and emissions reduction can create demand for North American steel while improving the region’s long-term resilience.

The Canadian steel industry stands ready to embrace this meaningful cooperation and see these important gains for the North American industry. However, our support is impossible while the United States continues to impose tariffs on Canadian steel.

If the objective is to defend North American steelmaking capacity from unfair foreign competition, then tariffs on Canadian steel are counterproductive. Canada is not the source of the problem, rather we are part of the solution.

Canadian producers operate under similar market pressures as their American counterparts and share the same interest in confronting global overcapacity and unfair trade. The reality is simple: Canada cannot simultaneously be treated as a strategic partner in defending the North American market and as a trade threat subject to punitive tariffs.

Canada has taken significant steps to prevent unfairly traded steel from entering our market. We have demonstrated our commitment to defending North American production. The next step should not be new barriers between allies. It should be a coordinated strategy focused on the real challenge facing our industry and deepening our cooperative efforts.

The United States has repeatedly called for stronger action to protect North American manufacturing. Canadian steel agrees. We are ready to do the work necessary. Now Washington must remove the tariffs that stand in the way.