It is not clear what the US steel rates will mean for Hamilton, but the workers and industry leaders agree that it is not good.
“The fear is that these additional tariffs could damage Stelco’s customers and their ability to sell their American customers,” said Ron Wells, who represents the workers of that steel manufacturer, CBC News Network Wednesday.
“The drip effect could have adverse impacts on Stelco and our workforce.”
President of the United States Donald Trump signed an executive order Tuesday applies a 50 percent rate to the importation of steel and aluminum Americans. The order It entered into force on WednesdayDuplication of tariffs that had already been in force since March 12.
In Stelco, which has factories in Hamilton and Nanticoke, Ontario, and is owned by American company Cleveland-Cliffs – Trump tariffs have already had a great impact.
According to Ron Wells, president of United Steelworkers Local 1005, his employer lost his entire business in the United States, representing about 30 percent of his work. He backed up 10 percent with additional Canadian customers, Wells said. Now, fear is that companies that buy Stelco and then sell to the US. UU. It will be more difficult to do so and, therefore, buy less.
There have been no job losses in Stelco, said Wells, although in Hamilton, the company is not hiring temporary summer personnel as usual. There are about 650 workers per hour in the negotiation unit in Hamilton, 1,100 in Nanticoke and a few hundred non -unions working in Stelco, he said.
In general, said Wells, the workers who represent seem more annoying than scared at this time. “No one needs this additional stress or frustration.”
CBC Hamilton contacted Stelco to comment on the increase in rates, but did not receive an answer.
MP says that 10,000 Hamiltonians used directly by the steel sector
John-Paul Danko, newly chosen deputy of Hamilton West, Anstaster, Dundas said that uncertainty is causing “immense stress and anxiety for Hamilton families.”
The steel industry uses more than 10,000 workers directly and there are up to 40,000 local jobs “at risk in the associated industries” due to rates, said former City Councilor in a statement on Wednesday.
The mayor of Hamilton, Andrea Horwath, also issued a statement condemning tariffs, saying that “they put thousands of good jobs at risk,” they delay investment and “threaten the stability that our industries need to prosper.”
“The more this approaches, the greater the impacts,” said Greg Dunnett, head of the Hamilton Chamber of Commerce to News Network. The community is supporting companies affected for now, he said, but if the commercial war crawls, it becomes more likely that companies enter “survival mode.”
In Hamilton, Dunnett said, there is a strong advanced manufacturing sector built around Stelco and Arceormittal Dofasco. When steel prices rise, he said, demand decreases.
“We will see that impact, then go to our community,” he said.
John Farrell, who withdrew from Arceormittal Dofasco after 40 years with the company, told News Network that, although it is not as prominent as it used to be, the steel industry in Hamilton still offers good jobs.
“A job like that, can afford to go to dinner. It can afford to do things that cost money,” he said, and pointed out that if steel workers find themselves less to spend, that will affect a variety of businesses such as local restaurants.
The industry leader says that Canada excluded from the US market
Some steel companies have told CBC News that they can adapt to tariffs, but others have been less confident.
Catherine Cobden, CEO of the Canadian Association of Steel Producers, told CBC News with the current rate instead: “We basically consider the US market closed.”
“We cannot send to 50 percent. Maybe we can store for a few days, but obviously we cannot continue producing if one of our main markets is closed,” he said.
Marty Warren, National Director of United Workers for Canada, echoed that feeling in a statement on Saturday, saying: “This is not a commercial policy: it is a direct attack on Canadian industries and workers. Thousands of Canadian jobs are at stake and communities that depend on steel and aluminum.
Industry and unions require reprisals
Cobden said that its industry wants the federal government to coincide with the US steel rates. UU. And impose tariffs that will prevent foreign steel manufacturers from selling at low prices in Canada.
The Unifor Private Sector Union requested retaliation rates on Wednesday and also Keanin Loomis, president and CEO of the Canadian Steel Construction Institute.
Until Wednesday afternoon, the federal government had Not announced such measuresWith the Minister of Industry, Mélanie Joly, indicating that the Government was not about to match tariffs on US assets and is still in negotiations with that country.
The federal government has still to announce such measures.
Before a meeting of Caucus Liberal, Prime Minister Mark Carney said that the government is in “intensive discussions” with the United States after tariffs on steel and aluminum increased from 25 to 50 percent.
Danko said the federal government “will take all necessary measures to protect Canadian workers with a coordinated strategic response.” At the same time, it will seek to grow the steel market and reduce the dependence of US exports by eliminating interprovincial commercial barriers and investing in new infrastructure and defense projects that use steel and Canadian aluminum, he added.
In a Hamilton coffee, Steve Lortye told CBC News Network that something good could come from all this.
Lortye, semi-stirred and worked for a company that did business with Arcesco Dofasco, said that the commercial war has made Canadians think more seriously about diversifying our economy and finding new commercial partners, something that believes that it will be good for the country in general and the Hamilton steel sector in particular.
“I think Canada will remain his,” he said. “It’s going to take time. We’ll have some pain. But hey, we can thank the orange man for getting stronger.”
