Community leaders respond to potential steel tariffs

Monday, March 5, 2018

Mayor Christian Provenzano, MPP Ross Romano and MP Terry Sheehan are committed to working together to respond to potential tariffs being imposed on steel entering the US.

The local leaders spoke on Friday afternoon and committed to reach out to their respective US counterparts on municipal, state, and federal government levels.

The tariffs proposed by President Trump will have a negative effect on the steel industry in both Canada and the US. Exported steel products provide critical manufacturing inputs in States such as: Michigan, Ohio, Illinois, New York, Pennsylvania, Minnesota, Indiana, Texas, California, Kentucky, New Jersey and Tennessee. The financial value of the inputs ranges from $115 million to $1.46 billion.

As highlighted in an earlier news release, Canada is the top destination for US steel exports and the US is the top destination for Canadian steel exports.

Whether the proposed tariff will be levied against Canadian steel has not been announced yet, and there is an opportunity to make the fact based case that trade between our two countries is balanced.

"The facts and statistics establish that Canada and the US have a balanced, fair and complementary trade relationship in steel. For instance, in 2017 each country exported $6 billion (USD) worth of steel to the other country," said Mayor Provenzano. "Levying a tariff against Canadian steel entering the US will disrupt this relationship and negatively effect both countries. Terry, Ross and I are united in our commitment to bring this message to our counterparts in the US."

"I am deeply concerned about the potential jeopardy that the imposition of these proposed tariffs will have on Canadian steel exports, in particular the effects on our local economy. I will continue to advocate for a Canadian exemption in an effort to continue our historically positive relationship with our friends in the United States. If each of our local elected officials contacts leaders south of the border that rely on our economies to keep their own economies afloat - we can show the US that they need us as much as we need them. That is our best chance at resolving this issue," said Ross Romano, Sault Ste. Marie MPP.

"I have been in Washington D.C. recently to meet with congressional representatives and senators to discuss the importance of the steel industry including Algoma and Tenaris Algoma Tubes. We have had a trade balance in steel, with the United States. Both countries have benefited from ongoing cooperation as raw materials move from the United States, to Canada to be made into steel, and back to the United States as a component in various kinds of manufacturing. Thousands of jobs and much of our prosperity depend on this cooperation. We have the longest undefended border in the world and we have partnerships with the United States that go back more than a century. I will continue to reach out to contact allies among my federal counterparts in the United States so that we can work together, effectively, against cheap, foreign dumped steel," said Terry Sheehan, Sault Ste. Marie MP.


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