Edmonton firm on edge as Trump touts steel tariffs

EDMONTON Rumours of a United States steel and aluminum tariff swirled around the manufacturing sector for months, but for one Edmonton company, current policy direction is worse than it thought.

AltaSteel has sat at its 34 Street location since 1955, though president Jon Hobbs laughs it’s an oftforgotten fact that Alberta’s capital even has a steel industry.

The company’s 350 employees produce 300,000 tonnes of steel each year, 20 per cent of which goes to the U.S.

Product heading to the States is currently covered under the North American Free Trade Agreement, but U.S. President Donald Trump has lobbed the possibility of tariffs into the mix; 25 per cent on steel and 10 per cent on aluminum.

“We’re really concerned that the United States is not seeing the big picture,” Hobbs said Tuesday.

A few hours earlier, he rung off a call with federal Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland. She reiterated to Hobbs and other members of the Canadian Steel Producers Association that her government will not hesitate to pursue retaliatory measures should the U.S. seek tariffs.

Hobbs is pleased Ottawa is talking tough.

“You fight fire with fire. The way (Trump) is behaving is unpredictable and unconventional,” he said.

The issue is seen primarily as a Central Canada problem — the hub of the nation’s steel production — but Hobbs said it’s a very real concern for Alberta. Alberta exports $500 million worth of steel to the U.S. each year.

If AltaSteel loses 20 per cent of its business to the U.S., he said, jobs would be at risk.

“At the moment it’s business as usual ... but we’re terribly concerned about the consequences for our business,” he said.