Saskatchewan steel companies already feeling impacts of tariff war

The impacts of United States tariffs on steel and aluminum products are already starting to be felt in Saskatchewan.

U.S. President Donald Trump said on Tuesday he will double the tariffs, originally set at 25 per cent, in response to Ontario’s surcharge on electricity it exports to the United States.

Trump says 50-per-cent tariffs will be placed on Canadian steel and aluminum on Wednesday in a social media post, adding that: “The only thing that makes sense is for Canada to become our cherished Fifty First State. This would make all Tariffs, and everything else, totally disappear.”

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Ed Wiebe, the owner of Metal Supermarkets in Saskatoon, said he was already seeing shortages and prices jump.

“Shortage is starting to happen in some products because mills creating product are a little shy on production and what to charge as far as the impact or if it’s going to be carried through or not,” he said . “We’re seeing some slowdown in that aspect.”

Wiebe said on Monday that his company was seeing the price for a pound of steel increase by about five to 10 per cent, but on Tuesday prices jumped again by about 25 to 30 per cent per pound of steel.

He said that the smaller the piece of steel, the more expensive it becomes to buy and some of his clients have explored buying steel in bulk to get the best price.

“I think people are somewhat aware of what’s going on, and knowing that this may be a possibility. We’ve had a few people say, ‘I’m going to order this stuff now, because I just want to know what I’m paying before that increase happens’,” Wiebe said.

“We’re not sure if it’s going to come back to COVID scenario when a lot of places were shut down or a lot of production changed,” he added.

“… it was a pretty heavy impact on material and pricing because of supply and demand. We’re not seeing a super amount of it yet, I think there’s still some optimism.”

Wiebe said his business tries to buy as much metal as possible locally, but notes his company has a network of stores throughout Canada and the Untied States and suggests the tariffs could impact the pricing structure throughout the network.

He said right now it’s a waiting game to see what comes next, but he’s going to make sure he can get his customers the best price.

Jared Wasylyniuk owns Outlaw Metal Fabrication in Saskatoon and says it’s uncertain times for his company.

“I’m not overly concerned as of this moment, but … I guess I should rephrase that. There is a concern, but I guess it’s more of what our government is going to do in retaliation,” Wasylyniuk said.

“We as a company don’t sell to the U.S. so that part of it isn’t going to hurt our business, but potentially with our government doing retaliatory tariffs and then just driving up the price of aluminum and steel … there could potentially be some cost increases for us.”

Wasylyniuk said he doesn’t think the tariffs will just end up hurting the customer.

“This hurts the end user because a lot of our stuff will just be priced at time of order,” Wasylyniuk said.  “All it really will end up doing is having the end user pay more for the product if prices go up.”

While he’s not in favour of the counter tariffs the Canadian government has put on the United States, Wasylyniuk is understanding.

“It would be nice if there was no retaliatory tariffs, because then it wouldn’t affect us. But I understand there’s a lot more to it than what we see.”

Saskatchewan Minister of Trade and Export Development Warren Kaeding. (Nicole Garn/980 CJME)

Trade and Export Minister calls this ‘tariff whiplash’

The tariffs continue to keep politicians on their toes, with Trump’s surprise announcement today.

Warren Kaeding, Saskatchewan Minister of Trade and Export Development calls it “tariff whiplash.”

“It certainly keeps us up at night and I’d say it’s the first thing that we look at every morning,” Kaeding said. “The unfortunate part is that it’s an ever-changing landscape that we’re dealing with.”

He said once the province fully understands what and how the tariffs are going to impact industries in Saskatchewan then it can react accordingly. This includes providing support to steelworkers if tariffs impact jobs.

But Kaeding didn’t say if there was further movement on supporting workers.

“It is a daily conversation with all our stakeholders that we just try and understand how this is going to affect them, and ultimately, what advice they can provide us as to how we need to deal with this,” he said.

Kaeding does want to hear from prime minister-designate Mark Carney on the issue.

“I know premiers reached out to Mark Carney, just asking, ‘What are you going to do? What is your strategy?’ Because it truly is in the federal hands right now as to how they are going to approach negotiations, especially with China,” he said.

Kaeding said it’s frustrating to see Saskatchewan industries caught up in the middle of the tariffs war.

“It’s definitely frustrating for our industries and ultimately for everyone in the province,” he said. “I understand they’re hurt, they’re frustrated.”

He said the province plans to take a slow, measured approach to determine how tariffs will impact Saskatchewan and how to respond accordingly.

— with files from 980CJME’s Nicole Garn, Canadian Press and CKOM News

Read more:

• ‘We share everything’: Border communities sticking together amid tariff uncertainty
• Looming 100-per-cent Chinese tariffs on canola leave Sask. farmers concerned
• Dairy industry says tariffs less scary than threats to supply management