ArcelorMittal Lengthy Merchandise
says it’s closing its wire-drawing mill in Hamilton, probably affecting greater than 150 individuals.
The choice introduced on Wednesday comes after the USA doubled its tariffs on overseas
metal
final week to 50 per cent, which has raised widespread issues in regards to the viability of Canada’s metal sector because it sells lots of its merchandise into the U.S. market.
An organization spokesman didn’t reply to requests for remark, however the firm mentioned in a press launch that its wire-drawing actions shall be “
fully concentrated” at its facility in
Montreal.
“We simply came upon this morning,” Mike Hnatjuk, president of United Steelworkers Native 5328, mentioned. “They’re asserting it to the shifts coming in that they’re closing it on the finish of the month.”
He mentioned the union would start negotiations subsequent week with the corporate over the closure, but it surely was not clear if the affected staff can be let go or supplied new positions in Montreal.
ArcelorMittal Lengthy Merchandise has the identical dad or mum firm as ArcelorMittal Dofasco, Canada’s largest producer of flat-rolled metal, however the two function independently.
Hnatjuk mentioned the corporate has lengthy specialised in quite a lot of wire merchandise — corresponding to cables for bridges, and rebar-like merchandise — however enterprise has slowly declined in current a long time as one product after one other misplaced market share.
He blamed China for flooding the market with low-cost metal merchandise that make it uneconomical to provide in Canada.
Final month, the Group for Financial Co-operation and Improvement (OECD) additionally took goal at China, saying its metal subsidization charge is greater than 10 instances greater than the speed in a median OECD nation.
“Chinese language metal exports have greater than doubled since 2020, reaching a file stage of 118 million tonnes in 2024,”
the OECD mentioned
. “This surge has disrupted metal markets in OECD economies, resulting in a fivefold enhance in anti-dumping measures since 2023.”
Hnatjuk mentioned ArcelorMittal Lengthy Merchandise instructed him that the mill in Hamilton has been dropping greater than US$2.6 million yearly for the previous 5 years. In current months, he mentioned about 25 per cent of the workforce had been laid off.
“They mentioned even with out these tariffs that this might have occurred,” Hnatjuk mentioned. “I take it because the tariffs had been just like the nail within the coffin.”
The announcement comes someday after Ron Bedard, chief govt of ArcelorMittal Dofasco — a distinct division of the identical firm that has 5,000 staff in Hamilton alone — mentioned he had gotten “flat, sloppy and lazy” when it comes to permitting U.S. gross sales to gasoline his firm’s progress.
He additionally mentioned he can be focusing extra on the Canadian market sooner or later, even when U.S. tariffs had been eradicated. The feedback got here whereas talking on the Automotive Elements Producers Affiliation convention in Vaughn, Ont., on Tuesday and he lavished reward on his staff.
“So lots of our staff are the only breadwinner within the dwelling, and so they’re among the highest-paid industrial staff in Canada,” he mentioned. “However they fear in regards to the stability of our trade, and so we’re doing every part we will, with each choice … to be sure that we’re placing individuals first.”
Bedard mentioned he has been assembly frequently with Mélanie Joly, the federal minister of trade, and Vic Fedeli, Ontario’s minister of financial improvement — each of whom attended the convention.
Final week, the Canadian Metal Producers Affiliation, an trade lobbying group, known as for pressing motion in response to the elevated U.S. metal tariffs.
Eddie Hutchinson, a spokesman for the CSPA, mentioned his group needs the Canadian authorities to reinstate retaliatory tariffs on U.S. metal on the new 50 per cent stage.
He mentioned the CSPA additionally needs Canada to lift tariffs on varied different nations’ metal “to stem the move of unfairly traded metal from getting into Canada and cannibalizing our trade.”
• E-mail: gfriedman@postmedia.com
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