Trudeau talks steel and doughnuts during visit to Hamilton
HAMILTON — Prime Minister Justin Trudeau pledged to do more to fight foreign steel dumping on a whirlwind Hamilton tour aimed at reassuring industry leaders and local workers worried about threatened U.S. tariffs.
The Liberal PM managed to sandwich a steel industry roundtable and a visit to infamously vandalized Donut Monster on Locke Street in between tours of both Stelco and ArcelorMittal Dofasco Tuesday.
Canada dodged an economic bullet last week after U.S. President Donald Trump exempted its northern neighbour — at least for now — from a threatened 25-per-cent tariff on steel. Business leaders had estimated such a tariff could affect up to 40,000 local jobs in the industry.
But Trump has also insisted on stronger measures to stop countries trying to sneak cheap steel into the U.S. by shipping through Canada.
“That is a concern we share with the Americans,” said Trudeau following a tour of ArcelorMittal Dofasco, later vowing to “keep ensuring that Canadian steel is Canadian steel.”
He said Canada has already taken steps to crack down on steel dumping from countries like China — including adding customs inspectors — but emphasized the government is willing to do more.
“We have a whole suite of tariff and countervailing duties that are at our disposal to move forward and ensure that we are not accepting unfairly produced or sold steel,” he said.
After the tour, ArcelorMittal Dofasco president Sean Donnelly said he was heartened the government appeared to be taking seriously industry concerns about a potential “diversion and surge” of cheap steel from abroad being dumped into the Canadian market.
Donnelly also said the uncertainty over threatened U.S. tariffs hasn’t changed the steelmaker’s investment plans in Hamilton, including hundreds of millions of dollars to modernize technology and build a boiler-based plant to generate electricity.
Hamilton Chamber of Commerce president Keanin Loomis said he “felt better” about the government’s game plan after listening in on a roundtable discussion that included local politicians, union leaders and top brass from the city’s biggest steelmakers.
“It was good to hear that reinforcement of the need to shore up our borders and ensure there is better regulatory co-operation on these issues,” he said. “Steel dumping is already occurring ... (so) it is positive to see there is impetus to act.”
The PM also fielded questions from steelworkers on a tour of Stelco early Tuesday morning — even if he didn’t necessarily answer with the level of detail they sought.
United Steelworkers local union leader Gary Howe said his members asked if the Liberals will overhaul the Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act (CCAA), the legislative rules through which U.S. Steel Canada entered into bankruptcy protection and was ultimately sold and reborn as Stelco.
Frustrated local steelworkers have called the CCAA “legalized theft” and lobbied to enshrine more rights for workers during bankruptcy protection.
“We want to know if the law will be changed,” Howe said.
Howe said Trudeau did not commit to specific changes, but agreed “there needs to be a conversation.”