{"id":322027,"date":"2025-12-03T05:10:10","date_gmt":"2025-12-03T05:10:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/322027\/"},"modified":"2025-12-03T05:10:10","modified_gmt":"2025-12-03T05:10:10","slug":"trumps-tariff-shock-forced-layoffs-algoma-steel-ceo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/322027\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump\u2019s \u2018tariff shock\u2019 forced layoffs: Algoma Steel CEO"},"content":{"rendered":"

Algoma Steel CEO Michael Garcia<\/a> says tariffs imposed by the United States have effectively \u201cclosed off\u201d the U.S. market, forcing the painful layoffs of 1,000 employees<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cYesterday was an incredibly difficult day for Algoma Steel and for Sault Ste. Marie \u2014 most of all for the workers and their families who received a four-month notice,\u201d Garcia said in a statement. <\/p>\n

\u201cTheir stability and well-being remain foremost in our minds.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"Algoma layoffs signal deeper crisis in Canada\u2019s steel sector: economist Access to the U.S. market was ‘shattered six months ago’ when U.S. President Donald Trump imposed 50 per cent tariffs on steel imports, Algoma Steel CEO Micahel Garcia said. <\/p>\n

Access to the U.S. market was \u201cshattered six months ago\u201d when U.S. President Donald Trump imposed 50 per cent tariffs on steel imports, he said.<\/p>\n

The decision meant \u201ceffectively closing off a market that has been essential to our viability for generations and rendering traditional blast-furnace steelmaking no longer viable,\u201d Garcia continued.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis sudden loss of access forced a fundamental shift in our competitive reality. Algoma\u2019s response is not simply to \u2018pivot,\u2019 but to accelerate a strategy that has been years in the making: transforming Algoma into a lower-cost, more flexible and more resilient steelmaker built for the future of the Canadian market.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cA strong Canadian steel industry requires a strong Canadian market \u2014 and recent actions by both the federal and provincial governments are helping build exactly that.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2014 \u00a0Michael Garcia, Algoma Steel CEO<\/p>\n

While job cuts were inevitable, the tariffs forced the company to accelerate the transition and \u201cclose our blast furnace and coke-making operations in early 2026, one year earlier than we had anticipated or planned,\u201d Garcia said.<\/p>\n

\"\"Michael Garcia Algoma Steel CEO Michael Garcia is pictured. <\/p>\n

Without the $500 million from the federal and provincial governments, he said the cuts would have come much earlier.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs we accelerate this transformation, government partnership will continue to play a vital role in ensuring the pivot strategy succeeds,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

\u201cA strong Canadian steel industry requires a strong Canadian market \u2014 and recent actions by both the federal and provincial governments are helping build exactly that.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"Mike Da Prat Mike Da Prat, United Steelworkers Local 2251 president, said his members are upset and concerned about the layoffs. (File) <\/p>\n

Garcia said \u2018buy Canadian\u2019 policies are essential to the long-term success at Algoma as businesses adapt to the reality of high U.S. tariffs.<\/p>\n

\u201cTransportation subsidies that offset the cost of shipping steel across this vast country are helping level the playing field for domestic producers, enabling Canadian-made steel to reach customers from coast to coast,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

Trade protections and anti-dumping measures \u201cform the backbone of a fair market where Canadian producers can compete based on quality, cost and innovation.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith this foundation \u2014 and with the continued backing of the prime minister, the premier, their governments, and our dedicated workforce \u2014 I am confident that Algoma Steel will not only endure but lead in the next era of Canadian steelmaking.\u201d<\/p>\n

Union wants retraining<\/p>\n

In an interview with CTV News on Tuesday morning, United Steelworkers Local 2251 President Mike Da Prat said his members are upset and concerned about the layoffs.<\/p>\n

While the union knew that job cuts were coming, the Steelworkers negotiated a mitigation strategy to help workers transition, especially job retraining. <\/p>\n

But now workers are being let go in March without that strategy being implemented, Da Prat said. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe company is now saying, through lawyers and arbitration, that the. Mitigation strategies expired on July 31, 2025, and yet, and that is simply not correct,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

\u201cSo the government let us down in the sense that there was funding provided without any conditions and the condition should have been that there had to be mitigation strategies and some of the strategies were retraining.\u201d<\/p>\n

RELATED STORIES:<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Algoma Steel CEO Michael Garcia says tariffs imposed by the United States have effectively \u201cclosed off\u201d the U.S.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":322028,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[18269,16599,45,49,48,46,142611,142612,905,18270,142185,1635,4992,1689,9880,15622,57682],"class_list":["post-322027","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-economy","tag-algoma","tag-algoma-steel","tag-business","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-economy","tag-michael-garcia","tag-mike-da-prat","tag-ontario","tag-sault","tag-sault-ste-marie-news","tag-steel","tag-tariffs","tag-trade-war","tag-trumps-tariffs","tag-u-s-tariffs","tag-united-steelworkers"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/322027","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=322027"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/322027\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/322028"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=322027"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=322027"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=322027"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}