Sault Ste. Marie, Ont., mayor responds to Trump doubling steel tariffs

Sault Ste. Marie Mayor Matthew Shoemaker says the federal and provincial governments need to come together with a plan to assist steel mills.

U.S. President Donald Trump’s newly doubled tariffs on steel are causing “anger and anxiety” in Sault Ste. Marie, Ont., the border city’s mayor says.

In an interview with CTV Your Morning Wednesday, Mayor Matthew Shoemaker said Sault Ste. Marie’s economy depends on steel – a product that Trump has made “uneconomic to sell” with the stroke of a pen.

“Half of our community relies on the steel plant, either directly or indirectly,” he said.

“It’s about 2,800 jobs directly, but it impacts grocery stores, restaurants, the theatre, you know, the home-improvement stores … and the suppliers, of course … every one of those businesses is going to be feeling the pinch.”

Shoemaker says there is going to be an “immediate” impact.

Trump originally laid tariffs of 25 per cent on steel and aluminum imports in the early days of this year’s global trade war. On Friday, the U.S. president announced he would double those rates to 50 per cent, effective Wednesday.

• LIVE UPDATES: Trump doubles metals tariffs, adding fuel to trade war

Trump has said the move will protect his country’s domestic steel industry, but Shoemaker described it as a problem for his community that has gone from bad to worse.

“[Businesses] were able to, you know, hobble along, I would say, with the 25 per cent tariff while the negotiations were ongoing to resolve them, but at 50 per cent, it’s going to … have to mean job impacts,” he said.

The depth of those job losses will depend on how much support the industry gets from the federal government, Shoemaker noted. Prioritizing Canadian steel suppliers for things like defence and infrastructure projects has been pledged amid the trade war, but in the short-term, an emergency stopgap is needed.

Sault-based Algoma Steel said in a statement they are “advocating for swift government action,” and that they remain “in close consultation with our customers and the government regarding the challenges this presents to our business.”

In a May 31 statement, the United Steelworkers union described the tariff increase as “a devastating blow to Canada’s industries and the hundreds of thousands of jobs they support,” and called on Canada’s federal government to “act without delay to keep workers working.”

And in a separate statement Wednesday morning, Unifor national president Lana Payne described the issue as a matter of "national economic security."

“(U.S.) President Trump fails to understand the chaos and damage these tariffs will inflict on workers and consumers in both Canada and the U.S.,” she said.

Prime Minister Mark Carney has said his government is actively negotiating to roll back the “unlawful and unjustified” doubling of U.S. levies, while also putting some of Canada’s own tariff revenues back into supporting workers and businesses.

But help will be needed long before the trade war is resolved, Shoemaker said.

“Negotiating a resolution to this with the U.S. is not going to happen within the next couple of weeks, but there is the prospect of job losses within the next couple of weeks,” he told CTV.

“It’s harder to rebuild a steel plant, or to recreate a manufacturing industry, than it is to support the one you’ve got.”

The mayor is calling on the federal government to bring forward a “concrete plan” within the next two weeks, either to buy or stockpile more steel from Canadian suppliers, or to support workers directly.

“It needs to be quick, and it needs to be impactful,” Shoemaker said.

You can watch the full interview with Sault Ste. Marie, Ont., Mayor Matthew Shoemaker in the video player at the top of this article.

With files from CTV News’ Lyndsay Aelick, Lynn Chaya, Stephanie Ha and Darren MacDonald, and The Canadian Press.