50% tariffs in the US raise concerns Canadian steel could be shut out of US, but some companies say they’ll adjust

Jenna Benchetrit, CBC News

“At a 50 per cent tariff, we basically consider the U.S. market closed — completely closed, door slammed shut, if you will — to Canadian steel,” said Catherine Cobden, CEO of the Canadian Steel Producers Association.

“We can’t ship at 50 per cent. Perhaps we can stockpile for a few days, but obviously we can’t keep producing if one of our major markets is shuttered.”

Trevor Borland, the president and owner of Pacific Bolt Manufacturing in Langley, B.C., says his company imports raw steel from US states like California and Ohio to manufacture its fastener products.

With the cost of that material subject to Trump’s tariffs, and the raw steel industry largely concentrated in central Canada, the company has pivoted to buying steel from Quebec mills. But trucking heavy materials across the country makes Pacific Bolt’s operation all the more expensive.