U.S. steel tariffs create worries in Manitoba By: Gabrielle Piché Posted: 5:37 PM CST Monday, Feb. 10, 2025

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This article was published 10/02/2025 (568 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Truckloads of steel regularly leave Selkirk bound for the United States.

Metal to make snowplow blades, forklift forks, elevator parts — it’s loaded and shipped from the Gerdau steel mill, one of the region’s largest employers.

“We don’t want to lose this mill,” said Selkirk Mayor Larry Johannson. “It would be devastating.”

He’s worried. On Monday, U.S. President Donald Trump announced 25 per cent tariffs on all steel and aluminum imports.

The decision came after Trump declared a 30-day pause on sweeping tariffs against Canadian imports starting Feb. 3.

“It is driving us crazy, in terms of the back and forth of Trump changing his mind every day,” said Mike Pulak, area coordinator for United Steelworkers’ Manitoba chapter.

The international union represents roughly 500 members in Selkirk’s steel industry, including 330 Gerdau steel mill employees and another 80 at its scrap metal operation. The latter members work at Black Cat Wear Parts, a manufacturer and Gerdau customer.

Gerdau, a Brazilian company, didn’t respond to an interview request by print deadline. Its Selkirk plant is lauded as a greener option for steel because it recycles scrap metal. It’s unclear what share of the exports land in the U.S.

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Roughly 75 per cent of its steel crosses the southern border, according to Pulak. Twenty semi-truck loads — give or take — leave the site daily, Johannson relayed.

The plant has exceeded normal winter production volumes; customers over-bought, anticipating tariffs, Pulak said.

“The order banks could dry up,” he continued. “(Tariffs) could be a real downturn in our industry.”

Selkirk appears to host Manitoba’s only steel plant. The province doesn’t produce aluminum.

Across the country, industry members met and discussed the trade tax.

“It is driving us crazy, in terms of the back and forth of Trump changing his mind every day.”–Mike Pulak, United Steelworkers’ Manitoba chapter

Canadian Manufacturers & Exporters is hosting weekly calls with members to provide updates. This Wednesday, the National Association of Manufacturers — the CME’s American counterpart — will join the call.

“Their messaging — I don’t want to speak for them, but it’s very similar to ours,” said Terry Shaw, the CME’s regional vice president for the Prairies.

Meaning, both parties are anti-tariff because the tax could damage industry on either side of the border, Shaw explained.

Take a company like Caterpillar, which receives Selkirk steel for its products. Prices will increase to compensate for the 25 per cent tariff, affecting the end customer, Pulak noted.

The United States doesn’t produce enough steel for its own needs, outlined Robert Parsons, a University of Manitoba supply chain management professor.

“They’re going to be short, and they’re going to have to get it from somewhere,” he said. “This situation is going to be problematic for all companies.”

He’s hoping U.S. industries will dissuade Trump from tariffs. Meanwhile, it’s crucial that Canada diversifies its steel and aluminum customer base, Parsons said.

Canada exported $20 billion worth of steel and iron to the U.S. last year, per Natural Resources Canada data. Aluminum exports totalled $15.2 billion.

The northern country imported $17.1 billion in iron and steel from the U.S. during the same year, and $4.1 billion worth of aluminum.

Interprovincial trade barriers — and their potential abolition — have taken the spotlight amid Trump’s ever-changing plans. Eliminating regulatory barriers in the trucking sector would help reduce the cost of Canadian steel, noted Renaud Brossard, vice-president of communications for the Montreal Economic Institute.

“Anything that contributes to making… transportation more expensive is something that reduces the adaptability of the metals industry,” Brossard said.

Lesser variance in trucking regulations between provinces would allow for steel to be purchased more cheaply interprovincially. It would also reduce the price of steel for overseas customers, Brossard explained, saying regulations increase shipping costs by an estimated eight per cent.

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In 2021, the Montreal Economic Institute released a report on interprovincial trade barriers. It found that if such barriers were removed in 2020, Manitoba’s GDP per capita would be nearly $5,000 higher by 2030.

Canada’s and the U.S.’s steel industries have become “very intertwined” after years of free trade agreements, said Pulak.

“It’s frustrating as a group, trying to recognize what the current (U.S.) government is trying to accomplish,” he stated.

There weren’t layoffs at the Selkirk plant in 2018 when a first-term President Trump implemented 25 per cent tariffs on steel and 10 per cent on aluminum, Pulak said. The tariffs lasted for roughly a year.

Premier Wab Kinew said Manitobans must “stick together” and stand up for Selkirk’s steel workers. He applauded locals for “doing the right thing” and buying Manitoba and Canada-made products.

Gerdau’s steel plant draws workers from outside Selkirk, including from Winnipeg and neighbouring communities like St. Andrews.

— With files from Maggie Macintosh

gabrielle.piche@winnipegfreepress.com

Gabrielle Piché
Reporter

Gabrielle Piché reports on business for the Free Press. She interned at the Free Press and worked for its sister outlet, Canstar Community News, before entering the business beat in 2021. Read more about Gabrielle.

Every piece of reporting Gabrielle produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print — part of the Free Press‘s tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press’s history and mandate, and learn how our newsroom operates.