The member of Parliament for Sault Ste. Marie–Algoma is extraordinarily busy this week.
As co-chair of the all-party steel caucus, Terry Sheehan will be in several meetings with representatives from the steel industry, including Algoma Steel and Tenaris, to plan a response to the 50-per-cent tariff imposed by Donald Trump starting today.
Sheehan says he knows how to deal with Trump.
“The only way that you deal with a bully is you’ve got to stand up to them,” he said.
“And that's what we're doing. We're doing it as a country. I want to make sure everyone knows we have the steel industry’s back,” Sheehan said this afternoon, adding that he’s “working day and night on this.”
He said this week’s meetings were planned when Trump first introduced the 25 per cent tariff on aluminum and steel back in March.
Industry Minister Mélanie Joly will also be in some of the meetings, Sheehan said.
Last Friday when Trump announced the tariffs on aluminum and steel would rise from 25 to 50 per cent, Sheehan got to work.
“I automatically jumped on the phone . . . I was calling, I was emailing, I was texting. Minister Joly and I began a dialogue on the weekend about how we could support the industry,” he said.
Sheehan helped facilitate Joly’s conversations with the various CEOs and unions.
“We're going to have further in person meetings here in Ottawa tomorrow,” Sheehan said.
He plans to meet with Tenaris management and the union tomorrow afternoon, then on Friday Sheehan will meet with the unions from Algoma Steel and the company's CEO, Michael Garcia.
One way the federal government plans to fight back is by removing trade barriers between the provinces.
“This week I thought it was very important with Prime Minister Mark Carney having his meeting with the premiers.
“They are all talking about fast-tracking these projects . . . getting from the proverbial 13 economies down to one as we have promised,” Sheehan said, describing the singular economy as “critical.”
“When we build and build big, that uses steel and aluminum and other Canadian things that are important. And it also is about a $200-billion opportunity, right? Just right away.
“It's absolutely critical because we can't be reliant on the United States.”
Yesterday the president of United Steelworkers Local 2724, the union for roughly 500 workers at Algoma Steel, told SooToday how the government could help Canada’s steel industry.
With the 25-per-cent tariffs that Trump ordered in March, Algoma Steel has been breaking even or sometimes making a small profit selling into the U.S., Bill Slater said, “but it caused flooding of steel into the Canadian market and depressed the Canadian prices.
“Everything we sell in Canada is at a loss," he said.
“I think the government needs to step in and stop other countries from being able to dump steel at a reduced price.
“You know we've had a system in the past where we would take these cases to Ottawa and basically go through judicial proceedings to see if it was legitimate dumping or not.
"But that process takes too long. The government needs to step up and make faster decisions on out-of-country steel coming into our country,” Slater said.
He also feels the government needs to put something in place to help laid-off workers.
Sheehan said Canada plans to address the dumping of steel into Canada.
“This is something that I started raising right when I was first elected in 2015 because the steel industry was in bankruptcy in Sault Ste. Marie.
“Tenaris had 25 people working on it. They blamed the Chinese for dumping steel and the lack of action by the previous government.
“So we began making changes and we continue to make those changes. But I also continue that work all the time because it's a bit of an arms race, right?
“We had put tariffs on China. We put new rules on melt and pour. But I also have spoken with the Prime Minister. I've spoken with the ministers and we're going to continue to do more in the upcoming while.
“There's a lot of steel out there in the world that's trying to find a home and we need to wall up. That's been my message."
Sheehan said the government will do more to combat the dumping of steel in the “very, very, very near future . . . But it's all hands on deck right now and we are responding.
“We're going to make our trade system that we improved vastly over the last little while even better.”
He also said the government will use the $90 billion it has brought in through counter tariffs to “protect workers and to support the industry.”
The government also hasn’t ruled out raising its tariffs on steel coming in from the U.S. to 50 per cent.
“Right now we're looking at everything.
“With the United States we're talking with them, but all options are on the table on our response.
“Canada is very nimble, very strong, very smart. We're exploring all options to maximize the pain on Americans and minimize any damage that could be done to Canadian businesses as a result of these actions.”
Sheehan also thanked Canadians for making a concerted effort to buy Canadian products.
“I’ve got to thank Canadians from across the country – from coast to coast to coast – for standing up.
“Even if they don't have steel and aluminum in their constituencies, they've been standing up and they have been making conscious choices to buy local . . . to buy Canadian and I encourage people to do that.”