Ottawa businesses concerned over doubling of U.S. tariffs on steel, aluminum

U.S. President Donald Trump says he will double tariffs on steel and aluminum stirring up concern for some Ottawa businesses. CTV’s Natalie Van Rooy reports.

Local businesses were dealt a major blow as U.S. President Donald Trump announced a plan to double tariffs on imports on Canadian steel and aluminum starting Wednesday.

In March, Trump put a 25 per cent tariff on the imports.

For Ambico, an Ottawa-based door and frames manufacturer, the move will increase the burden on their business.

“We’ve probably paid in excess of $100,000 in tariffs since the beginning of March,” said Jack Shinder, Ambico CEO.

“That continues to come off our bottom line and we had hoped that that amount would diminish.”

Canada is the largest steel supplier to the United States, accounting for nearly 25 per cent of all imports in 2023.

About a quarter of all steel used in the U.S. is imported.

“Immediately, the Canadian government needs to respond with retaliation to the U.S. and also needs to ensure to the domestic market that we are ready to serve with a lot of product that is not flooded by unfair trade,” said Catherine Cobden, president and CEO of the Canadian Steel Producers Association.

While not all companies will feel the brunt of the move, many say it will still bring adjustments.

“On a $100,000 job, it would only affect us by $2,000 or $3,000, which isn’t a huge deal, and I’m not overly concerned,” said Michael Glaser, Encore Steel CEO.

“We’re going to also incorporate it into our pricing moving forward, but I think he’s probably going to back down on it again because he seems to do that a lot.”

At Kichesippi Beer, an Ottawa-based brewery, the doubling of tariffs will sting.

“Margins are very tight, we’ve already seen one increase from our can suppliers so we’ll have to figure out how much we can absorb,” said Paul Meek, Kichesippi Beer owner and president.

“It will be impossible for us to absorb that whole increase, and we will unfortunately have to increase prices, which is going to affect sales.”

As costs climb because of the tariffs, the Canadian government’s producer price index found the price of steel products has gone up roughly 16 per cent.

The federal government says it has taken note of the situation and plans to discuss the issue when the prime minister and premiers meet in Saskatoon on Monday.