Sisi Chan

Steel sector praises new tariff measures, but says more needs to be done

Canada’s Prime Minister Mark Carney has received a mixed response from the head of Canada’s steel industry association for his measures to bolster the domestic steel industry threatened by U.S. tariffs.

New measures were announced by Carney to aid Canadian steel and lumber producers. These include tighter foreign steel quotas and a reduction in inter-province rail freight rates.

In response to these, Catherine Cobden, CEO of the Canadian Steel Producers Association, expressed the new measures might not completely offset the U.S. market loss, yet, they provide some relief to the struggling industry.

The extension of the remission program by Ottawa, diluting the retaliatory tariffs on U.S. steel, has however been a disappointment for the steel industry.

Cobden urges an end to the federal government’s remission program by the end of January, promising to hold them accountable.