Mayor Matthew Shoemaker took his case against steel tariffs directly to U.S. television viewers on Tuesday in an interview with CNN.
Appearing from his office in the Ronald A. Irwin Civic Centre in Sault Ste. Marie, Shoemaker was asked how steel tariffs imposed by U.S. President Donald Trump undermine jobs on both sides of the border.
Shoemaker noted that many steel workers spend their wages across the St. Marys River in Michigan.
"The steel worker income in our community doesn't just support Sault Ste. Marie, Canada. It supports the regional economy, which includes the upper peninsula of Michigan, and that's why it impacts more than just the Canadian steel market when you impose tariffs on Canadian byproduct because those dollars trickle back into the US.
Shoemaker went on to talk about how a slowdown in steelmaking at Algoma Steel could impact a number of its U.S.-based suppliers.
I appreciated the opportunity to speak with @CNN's @jimsciutto about the impact of steel tariffs and the need for a timely resolution. These tariffs are a counter productive action that disrupts long-standing supply chains built on decades of practical, mutually beneficial trade. pic.twitter.com/kna5MKco2a
— Matthew Shoemaker (@SooShoe) June 10, 2025
"It uses coal from West Virginia, it uses iron ore from Minnesota and those products get shipped up the Great Lakes through the Soo Locks over to Algoma, which then produces the steel and ships back the product to go into Ford Broncos and Teslas. So, if they're making less steel, they're buying less natural resources from the mines in the US," said Shoemaker.
International Bridge traffic from Canada into the U.S. is down 40 per cent, noted Shoemaker, while traffic from the U.S. to Canada is down only a few percentage points.
"I think it really shows the sense that Canadians have, that this is an attack on us rather than a real dispute between the two countries because our American neighbours in Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan still treat us like part of their community or an extension of their community," he said.
Shoemaker took great care to say Canadians are unhappy with the U.S. administration and its actions, not the people of Michigan.
"We use the example of a recent ice storm that happened in Michigan in the upper peninsula that caused them to need Canadian linesmen to go and help restore the power — which we sent willingly. It is a mutually beneficial relationship that we can both encourage and and nurture, and it will make both of us rich and prosperous," said Shoemaker.