Trade war presents opportunities for Sudbury, mayor argues

Sudbury Mayor Paul Lefebvre says the ongoing trade war with the U.S. presents unique opportunities for the city given its mining history & demand minerals.

Greater Sudbury is well-positioned to help Canada survive the trade conflict with the United States thanks to the city’s mining expertise and growing global demand for critical minerals.

Mayor Paul Lefebvre said in a release Tuesday that he’s working on partnerships to develop nickel sulfate processing capacity in the city to “domesticate the Ontario (electric vehicle) supply chain.”

Doing so, Lefebvre said, would " unlock untold millions of dollars and countless jobs for Ontario, and improve our global bargaining position for international investment and trade deals on a key future-focused industry with auto giants domiciled in Japan, Korea, the U.S., and Europe."

U.S. President Donald Trump is “upending” its relationships with Canada and other traditional allies, the mayor said. In Ukraine, for example, it is demanding the war-torn nation provide $500 billion worth of critical minerals as a “back payment” for U.S. military support.

“Taiwan, the southeast Asian democracy that lives under constant threat of Chinese invasion, is being threatened with potentially 25 per cent, 50 per cent, or 100 per cent tariffs on its world-class semiconductors while the U.S. angles for more investment in domestic production,” Lefebvre said.

Canada is ‘being taunted’

“And Canada, for our part, is being taunted about becoming the 51st American state while also being expected to radically boost defence and security expenditures to earn our portion of the U.S. security umbrella.”

It’s clear, the mayor said, that Trump is looking for critical minerals and rare earth elements for its defence industry and future technologies.

“And we’ve got them, along with the world-class mineral processing facilities and expertise in Greater Sudbury,” Lefebvre said.

“In fact, 80 per cent of the nickel used in America’s aerospace sector and 56 per cent of the nickel used in America’s defence sector comes from Ontario. In addition, we also supply nickel for electric vehicle batteries, tellurium for solar panels, and vanadium for outfitting aircraft carriers and other defence applications, and all of it is only going up in value.”

It’s key that Canada take control of the supply and processing of these minerals “before the U.S. tries to make it their own and set radical political conditions on us like Mr. Trump is doing to Ukraine.”

To do that, Lefebvre said Sudbury needs the capacity to process nickel sulphate, along with “pre-cathode active material (pCAM) production capability.”

Under this plan, Sudbury would process minerals produced in the Ring of Fire by Wyloo Metals. It would be a separate facility from the one Vale is building in Quebec.

“I’ve got investors and Indigenous community leaders at the table to do this, and I’m ready to partner with the premier of Ontario to get it done,” Lefebvre said.

Fight for democracy

“We should make the case for partnering with the U.S. and other democratic allies to co-invest in major national defence technology development — not just upstream extraction, but mid-and downstream development and commercialization and adoption right here in Canada and then for the rest of the allied community, as well.”

The current situation is a crisis, Lefebvre said. Paraphrasing British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, he said Sudbury can’t afford to let this crisis “go to waste.”

“We should be under no illusions. The rise of China, the outbreak of war in Europe, and the America First doctrine of the new Trump administration represent a geo-economic crisis for Canada and many of our democratic friends and allies,” the mayor said.

“So for goodness sake, let’s not waste it.”