
Steel workers in the Sault used to bad news, anxious about tariff threats
SAULT STE. MARIE, Ont. — David Beauregard shrugs as he walks out of the Algoma Steel plant during an afternoon shift change.
“It’s scary,” he said, describing the mixture of resignation and worry he and his colleagues have felt since President Donald Trump began talking about restricting Canadian steel imports.
A steel tariff would have devastating consequences for Sault Ste. Marie, the heart of steel country in northern Ontario, where Algoma makes up more than 40 per cent of the city’s economic output.
So far, Canada has been exempted from the U.S. import duties — 25 per cent on steel, 10 per cent on aluminum — but Trump has suggested the reprieve may only be temporary and is part of protecting American industrial jobs.