Joly says Ottawa ‘in solution mode’ after industry meeting on steel tariffs

Industry Minister Melanie Joly said the federal government is in “solution mode” on measures to protect Canadian steel jobs after meeting Thursday with business and union leaders amid a doubling of U.S. steel and aluminum tariffs.

The Canadian Steel Producers Association and union group leaders said they were visiting Ottawa to “urge” the federal government to respond after U.S. President Donald Trump increased his tariffs from 25 per cent to 50 per cent on Wednesday, specifically targeting imports of steel and aluminum products.

Joly said the newly increased tariffs are “illegal and unjustified, and that’s why we will continue to fight against them.”

“They’re a direct attack against our workers,” she told reporters after meeting with CEOs in the steel sector and labour representatives.

“We’re in solution mode, and our goal is to make sure that we are there to support the sector at a time when we know we have to have a stronger domestic sector.”

Joly said Canadian-made steel and aluminum will be prioritized in projects built under the government’s impending legislation that aims to fast-track “nation-building” energy infrastructure, and urged MPs to support the bill when it is tabled in order to support the domestic industry.

She did not say if the government will take any immediate actions against the U.S., or to prevent foreign steel headed to the U.S. from being dumped into Canada.

“A lot of the conversation was about how we can make sure that we protect a domestic market, and we’re working on solutions,” she said. “That’s why the industry and myself will continue to engage in the coming hours and days, because we need to get to a good plan together.”

In a statement, the Canadian Steel Producers Association said the government “must immediately implement new tariffs at our own borders to stem the flow of unfairly traded steel from entering Canada and cannibalizing our industry.”

The statement also describes how at the prior tariff rate the industry “saw significant layoffs, curtailed investments and a significant drop of shipments to the United States.”

With the tariffs increased to 50 per cent, the group says, “the U.S. market is effectively closed to Canadian steel, leaving billions of dollars of Canadian steel without a market.”

The statement is also urging the government “to protect our industry” by fully re-instating retaliatory tariffs on steel imports from the U.S. and matching their escalation.

Joly said in question period Thursday that she was also in comntact with aluminum production company CEOs, who were not at the Ottawa meetings.

She said she discussed “what’s available” to the sector in her meeting with the steel industry but did not give further details.

Canada is the largest foreign supplier of steel and aluminum to the U.S., which has been used in everything from defence and aerospace manufacturing to drink cans.

Ontario Premier Doug Ford called the U.S. move “unfortunate” on Wednesday and said he wants to see “tariff-for-tariff, dollar-for-dollar” retaliation and a matching retaliatory tariff put in place.

“Unfortunately, they broke a verbal agreement. That’s unfortunate, it’s going to cost the American people,” he said. “I want to make sure the federal government slaps another 25 per cent on their steel.”

Ford also said Thursday that Prime Minister Mark Carney is in “deep discussions” on trade with Trump.

The premier said he told Carney on Wednesday that the best outcome would be a swift deal with the U.S. that would end Trump’s tariffs on Canadian products, but if that doesn’t happen in the next few days Canada should “come out guns a-blazing” and match Trump’s 50 per cent steel and aluminum tariffs with retaliatory levies of its own.

Carney has called the increased tariffs illegal and said this week the government was preparing a retaliatory response if talks with the U.S. don’t produce a deal.

—With files from the Canadian Press

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