The Federal Government is preparing to use emergency safeguard measures, for the first time, to tackle a flood of cheap foreign steel entering the Canadian market.
This comes just months after President Donald Trump imposed steep new tariffs on steel destined for the U.S.
Finance Minister Bill Morneau was at ArcelorMittal Dofasco in Hamilton Tuesday to announce the government will consult with steel industry stakeholders over the next 15 days to look at how this surge in foreign steel can be addressed and what kind of safeguard measures, or tariffs, could be imposed.
“We’ve seen increases in imports, that’s an important reason why we’ve come forward today with seven products that we’re consulting on.”
Targeting specific steel products like steel plate, hot rolled sheets, and stainless steel wire and wire rod, instead of targeting specific countries.
According to Marvin Ryder of the DeGroote School of Business, “That allows him to put tariffs on imported products he doesn’t have to do it to everybody if there’s a country we like, like South Korea, we may not put it on their steel but if there’s a country we don’t like like, say China, we might put it on them.”
Canada wants to avoid the dumping of inexpensive imports, something that damages its domestic industry and threatens jobs here.
The President of the Hamilton Steelworkers Area Council welcomes the government’s action but says steelworkers need to be part of these consultations.
“This is Steel Town if you come to Hamilton and you want to talk about steel you include the union.”
The Finance Minister acknowledged the unprecedented nature of such measures from Canada but says: “We find ourselves in an exceptional situation where we need to think about how we keep the market stable in the long term.”
While Morneau repeated that the U.S. tariffs are “unacceptable”, he said this need for consultation is separate from the ongoing NAFTA talks between Canada, the U.S. and Mexico.
Morneau says the government has already been “extensively consulting” with allied countries about what can be done to protect Canada from surges, but the consultation will expand to hearing from Canadian producers and users of steel.
