Industry Minister Mélanie Joly is asking Canada’s Competition Bureau to probe whether U.S. steelmaker Cleveland-Cliffs acted in bad faith when it acquired Canadian steelmaker Stelco in 2024, following comments by the company’s chief executive about his reasons for the purchase.
Joly said in a Nov. 6 statement posted on social media that, after consulting her legal team, she had sent a letter to the Competition Commissioner asking the bureau to examine Cleveland-Cliffs’ conduct in the Canadian marketplace and determine whether it warrants enforcement action under the Competition Act.
Cleveland-Cliffs CEO Lourenco Goncalves told CBC News on Oct. 27 that he bought Stelco partly because the Canadian company was flooding the U.S. market with steel and undercutting prices, which he said was hurting his company. He also said he intended to sell Stelco in about a year, adding that he had become “persona non grata” in Canada….