Stelco’s president is defending the company’s plan to lay off 500 workers, telling Industry Minister Mélanie Joly in a recent letter that continued foreign steel imports and a 58 percent drop in certain Canadian steel exports to the United States forced the decision.
In the seven-page letter, Stelco president Paul Simon said Canadian exports of cold-rolled and coated steel products to the United States fell by 226,000 tonnes in the second quarter of 2026, compared with the quarterly average in 2024, before the trade dispute began.
Meanwhile, Simon said imports accounted for 45 percent of Canadian demand for those products, despite Ottawa’s efforts to protect domestic producers by restricting steel imports. He also said U.S. tariffs and weakening demand had upended the industry….