Steel and aluminum CEOs warn of ‘existential threat’ if Canada doesn’t

Canada’s steel and aluminum industries are warning they face an “existential threat” if the Trudeau government fails to move in lockstep with the U.S. and Mexico by introducing tariffs on Chinese steel and aluminum imports this month.

“We can’t be the only CUSMA country that is not taking this serious action for many reasons, but not the least of which is that we’ll become the dumping ground for this excess steel capacity without those checks and balances at the border,” said Catherine Cobden, president and CEO of the Canadian Steel Producers Association, referring to the Canada-United States-Mexico trade agreement.

“Frankly, in our view, doing nothing is not an option.”

Those two industries are asking the federal government to impose a tariff of at least 25 per cent on all melted and poured Chinese steel products and most aluminum products entering Canada. 

That would match the new tariffs announced by the U.S. on 289 different Chinese steel and aluminum imports. 

“What I’m nervous about is the urgency,” Cobden said. “We can’t emphasize enough how critical a moment in time this is to stand in lockstep with our biggest trading partner, the United States, and frankly Mexico as our CUSMA partner.

“Failure to act risks good jobs in steel and aluminum communities right across this country. It would relate to losses in economic growth and investment in Canada.”

‘A hole in the CUSMA fortress’

In May, the U.S. announced it was imposing 387 tariffs on Chinese products, including steel and aluminum, at up to 24 per cent.

“Our metal is like water, seeking the path of least resistance to reap the highest price,” said Jean Simard, president of the Aluminium Association of Canada. “The fencing-out of Chinese excess capacity by Mexico and the U.S. leaves us, Canada, the sole tariff-free point of entry in the CUSMA trading space.”

According to the Canadian Steel Producers Association (CSPA), more than 760,000 tonnes of melted and poured Chinese steel entered the American market in 2023, while over 750,000 tonnes entered the U.S. the year before. 

Those volumes are 20 per cent higher than the current amount of Chinese steel that enters Canada every year. 

“This is a clear and present danger,” Simard said. “We cannot and will not let this happen. It’s not in our industry’s interest and not in Canada’s interest.”

Simard and Cobden said any Chinese steel diverted from the U.S. market by tariffs could end up here.

“In an ideal world, [the government] would work in lockstep with the U.S. government’s implementation so that we don’t open a hole in the CUSMA fortress that will enable Chinese imports to come in,” Simard said.

Simard also pointed to the environmental impacts of Chinese steel and aluminum.

“Canada’s aluminum industry competes amongst the best and against the best,” he said. “It is the…