A rally in Windsor will call on the federal government to make policy changes to support the Canadian steel industry in the face of U.S. tariffs.
United Steelworkers union members will be joined at the rally by Cleveland-Cliffs CEO Lourenco Goncalves and Windsor native Barry Zekelman, CEO of Zekelman Industries, who leads the largest independent steel pipe and tube manufacturer in North America.
The rally is set for 1 p.m. Friday at the intersection of Banwell Road and the E.C. Row Expressway, where construction of a new overpass is underway to improve access to the NextStar EV battery manufacturing plant.
The USW plans to make a number of calls for policy changes to support the Canadian steel industry and its workers, including policies around imported steel and Made-in-Canada incentives, and that the federal government increase Canada's retaliatory surtax on U.S. steel to 50 per cent.
A release from the USW states, "In Canada, only 35 per cent of steel used is sourced from domestic producers. Canada has one of the highest levels of steel imports in the world, a level that the USW calls unsustainable. The union is calling on the government for support to 'repatriate' the domestic market, which would help stabilize Canadian steel production and employment."
Zekelman told AM800's The Shift that we have great steel capacity here and very modern steel-making capacity.
"I'm a consumer of that steel and use a lot of it. I'm the single largest consumer in Canada," he says. "It's important to have a strong domestic steel industry, and we have a great viable steel industry here; we just have to make sure we have a market for it. That's really the problem, and our trade policies are certainly not helping that."
Steelworkers will also be attending from USW Local 1005 in Hamilton and 8782 in Nanticoke, Ont.
Zekelman says we need to use Canadian steel to build infrastructure like in the overpass at E. C. Row and Banwell, pointing to imported steel I-beams that have already been pounded into the ground to support the project.
"Well, if they're not made in Canada, what are we supposed to do? We import them. No, there's an alternative product, and that product is a product we make and our competitors make, and that's tubing or pipe piling, which is equally as good and sometimes even better," he says. "We use it now; our pipe pile is in the base of the Gordie Howe Bridge. If it was good enough for the Gordie Howe Bridge, I'm pretty sure it was good enough for the Banwell overpass."
Zekelman says their objective is to create public awareness about where foreign steel hits us.
"How it affects our lives and you drive by it every day and you don't think of it. We want to make you aware of it and that there are simple solutions to correct these problems. We want our politicians to act," he says.
In response to tariffs and an import-dominated Canadian steel market, the USW has been calling for the following policy changes:
- Make 'Nation Building' Investments in domestic steel capacity: Invest strategically in industrial capacity to make Canada more self-reliant and in workforce development, with Strategic Response Fund dollars tied to sustaining and adding good steel sector jobs in Canada.
- Implement Buy Canadian and Buy Clean procurement policies across public infrastructure and defence procurement to prioritize Canadian-made steel.
- Introduce a Made-in-Canada tax credit to incentivize private-sector procurement of Canadian-made steel and manufactured products, strengthening domestic production and supporting good union jobs.
- Tight and Permanent Tariff Rate Quota (TRQ) System: Make the TRQ program permanent and progressively tighten quotas to encourage import substitution and incentivize domestic supply. Maintain the stakeholder Steel Task Force Committee to regularly monitor import and TRQ data and provide feedback to the federal government.
- Bolster trade enforcement: Equip the Canada Border Services Agency to track shifting trade flows, identify unfairly imported steel, and investigate violations.
- Apply a robust melt-and-pour rule with strict certification and a 25 per cent surtax to ensure that enforcement targets the true country of origin-not just where the steel is finished.
- Remove the U.S. remission exemption while raising Canada's retaliatory surtax on U.S. steel to 50 per cent.
- Implement a Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) so imported steel reflects its carbon footprint, creating a level playing field for cleaner Canadian producers.