Canadian steelmakers need to focus on domestic market

Rolled coils of steel in the yard at Algoma Steel Inc. along the St. Marys River in Sault Ste. Marie, Ont. Photo by Nick Iwanyshyn/The Canadian Press files

Canadian steelmakers might need to pivot their focus on the domestic industry as steep tariffs lock them out of the United States market, according to the chief executive of Canada’s second-largest steel producer.

“We’ll have little to no business in the U.S. if the 50 per cent tariff continues,” Algoma Steel Inc. CEO Michael Garcia said in a recent interview with the Financial Post’s Larysa Harapyn. “Once the full effect of (the tariffs) plays out, it will effectively lock out Algoma and frankly other Canadian steel producers from the U.S. market.”

Garcia said not having economic access to customers in the U.S. would be a