Steel Tariffs remain

With the renegotiation of the NAFTA deal, there was expectation from Canada’s steel industry that the U.S. tariffs that President Trump imposed on Canadian steel, would be lifted. But Trump told reporters today, that the steel and aluminium tariffs are not going anywhere.

Gary Howe, President of the United Steelworkers union local 10-05, is not happy with the news, “It’s certainly not a victory for Canadian steelworkers. I think they’ll be very disappointed to see there’s still tariffs on steel.”

Hamilton mayor Fred Eisenberger congratulated Canada’s renegotiating team on the new deal but says the fight must continue to eliminate the tariffs on Canadian aluminium and steel.

Eisenberger says for example Hamilton is already seeing higher construction costs as a result of the trickle down of high steel costs.

“The pricing of steel has gone through the roof and that’s certainly been a benefit for the steel-maker, but whoever is then producing products from steel is going to have to reflect that in their pricing.”

Steel industry expert Peter Warrian says what we’re likely going to hear in the coming weeks is talk of quotas or limits on the amount of Canadian steel going into the U.S. that would replace the tariffs..

Warrian says sources close to the deal tell him that we should be hearing about these quotas in the next couple of weeks, but says even then the full details of the new deal might not be entirely clear saying that could take another month.

Meantime, the retaliatory tariffs that Canada implemented back on July 1st, are also still in place.