Today, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced that Canada would be imposing a surtax on Chinese made steel, aluminum, and electric vehicles.
As the proud representative of a steel-making town, and chair of the All-Party Steel Caucus, this is something that I fully support. The industry and unions have been asking for this, and it is a necessary step to protect our products, our jobs, and our domestic supply chains from unfair dumping and trade practices.
Our government has a long record of supporting the success of our steel industry, including in Sault Ste. Marie.
When Algoma Steel was on the verge of bankruptcy after years of a Conservative government that cut investments and ignored the needs of the industry, we helped them rebuild. In 2018, when Donald Trump put arbitrary tariffs on our steel, this government fought back, and won. And we are helping them modernize. At Algoma Steel, we have invested $90 million to help them modernize and $420 million to electrify and phase out coal-fired steelmaking - the equivalent of taking almost a million cars off the road every year. Today's announcement continues our commitment to workers and manufacturers.
The 25 per cent surtax on steel and aluminum will be effective October 15, and the 100 per cent surtax on electric vehicles will be effective October 1.
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