The move to lay off hundreds of workers at Hamilton’s Stelco steel plant is being seen as a critical warning to Canada’s troubled steel industry.
“If we don’t make changes, Canada’s steel industry is at risk,” said United Steelworkers national director Marty Warren.
Stelco’s plans to “idle” part of its Hamilton factory and let go hundreds of employees is only the latest blow to a Canadian industry being squeezed by U.S. tariffs.
In December, Sault Ste. Marie, Ont.’s largest employer, Algoma Steel, announced it would let go of roughly 1,000 employees. The mayor of the northern Ontario city says the message from Washington has been sent loud and clear.
“The hope of the American administration is to destroy the Canadian steel market,” said Sault Ste. Marie Mayor Matthew Shoemaker.
In March 2025, U.S. President Donald Trump hit Canada’s steel and aluminum sector with 25 per cent tariffs, then in June of that year, his administration increased tariffs to 50 per cent.
Stelco in Hamilton is owned by an Ohio-based company called Cleveland-Cliffs. Its CEO, Lourenco Goncalves, has previously publicly supported Trump’s tariff policy.
Though back in 2024, Goncalves spoke glowingly about the Canadian market, shortly after Cleveland-Cliffs purchased Stelco.
At the time, Goncalves told BNN Bloomberg, “We are in good shape for the future, that’s a good thing for the United States, for Canada and particularly for Clevland-Cliffs and Stelco.”
Prime Minister Mark Carney said Tuesday his government plans to ensure that Clevland-Cliffs meets its obligations. The company established a legally binding five-year agreement with the Canadian federal government in late 2024 under the Investment Canada Act to approve its acquisition of Hamilton-based Stelco.
“The company made representations and has legal obligations for employment. We intend to use all the powers that we have and pursue them to the full extent of the law,” Carney told reporters in Vancouver on Tuesday.
U.S. Census data shows that as recently as 2024, Canada was shipping and exporting more iron and steel into America than any other country, sending roughly US$13 billion worth of product stateside.
However, just this week, the Trump administration announced plans for a US$15-billion-dollar mega steel mill to be built in Iowa.
“The largest in America by far,” Trump boasted from his desk in the Oval Office.
Shoemaker sees the announcement as another move to crush Canada’s industry.
“If the Canadian government wants a Canadian steel industry to exist beyond the end of this Trump presidency, they need to ensure the stability of Stelco, Dofasco and Algoma for the future. Otherwise, the mills will be gone and we will be forced to buy all steel from outside of Canada,” Shoemaker said.
Industry watchers tell CTV News the priority right now is to stabilize the existing mills across Canada and fast-track nation-building projects that are committed to using Canadian steel.
Though any future federal infrastructure plans will offer little help to the roughly 350 workers expected to be laid off in Hamilton later next week.
With files from The Canadian Press
