Some top American steel producers are cheering on U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariffs on foreign steel while raising prices on their own products, with one steelmaker urging Canada to copy Trump’s protectionist trade policies.\n\nBoth Cleveland-Cliffs and Steel Dynamics said in their latest quarterly earnings reports this week that they are charging buyers about 14 per cent more than they did in the previous quarter, while Acerinox said it is considering doing the same as soon as this fall.\n\nEconomists say such price increases are a natural result of tariffs, and are warning Canada to avoid the Trump administration’s “sledgehammer” approach that ends up squeezing buyers.\n\n“ heated approach is much more necessary here, because it’s so complex,” said Harish Krishnan, a professor at the University of British Columbia’s Sauder School of Business who focuses on supply chain management.\n\nThe U.S. approach, he added, “is going to be negative for costs in the short and long term.”\n\n“Whenever you introduce a tariff, it has two effects,” said Werner Antweiller, an economics professor and chair in international trade policy at the University of British Columbia.\n\n“It basically raises the prices in the market overall because it curtails output, and so consumers are paying a higher price overall, and then the domestic producers are pulling even to the price of the foreign producers.”\n\nThe U.S. approach, he added, “is going to be negative for costs in the short and long term.”\n\n“As profit maximizers, it makes total sense for the sellers to raise their prices.”\n\nBoth Cleveland-Cliffs and Steel Dynamics said they expect prices to remain stable in upcoming quarters — meaning they will remain at higher levels.\n\nIn a post-earnings call Tuesday, Cleveland-Cliffs CEO Lourenco Goncalves described the “strong improvements in pricing” and said Trump’s steel tariffs, which went up to 50 per cent in June, “have played a significant role in supporting the domestic steel industry.”\n\nThe company told investors that imported steel has dropped from 25 per cent of the U.S. market share in January to 20 per cent in April and May, after Trump first re-imposed the tariffs at a 25 per cent rate.\n\nExecutives at Steel Dynamics were more muted. While CEO Mark Millett said higher prices had boosted profitability for the company, “the uncertainty regarding trade policy continues to cause hesitancy in customer order patterns across our businesses.”\n\nThe uncertainty has roiled Canada’s own steel industry, which, like the U.S., has historically contended with imports and has called on the federal government to stop foreign dumping of steel due to Trump’s tariffs.\n\nPrime Minister Mark Carney last week said Ottawa will change its steel tariff-rate quotas from 100 per cent to just 50 per cent of 2024 volumes for non-free trade agreement countries. Any imports that fall above that rate will face a 50 per cent tariff, which will also be applied to imports from free trade agreement partners above 100 per cent of 2024 volumes.\n\nAdditional duties will also be imposed on 25 per cent of steel imports from all non-U.S. countries that contain steel melted and poured in China before the end of July, Carney added.\n\nGoncalves on Tuesday claimed the new measures will only affect 17 per cent of the steel imported to Canada, and urged Carney to expand its tariffs to all foreign trade partners in line with the U.S. He said countries with free trade agreements “continue to use Canada as their outlet for overproduction.”\n\n“If Prime Minister Carney and his cabinet really want to have a steel industry in Canada, they should put in place significant trade protections,” Goncalves said during Tuesday’s call. “Then they will have a strong domestic steel industry in Canada, able to support a vibrant and domestic Canadian market.\n\n“ heated approach is much more necessary here, because it’s so complex,” said Harish Krishnan, a professor at the University of British Columbia’s Sauder School of Business who focuses on supply chain management.\n\nThe U.S. approach, he added, “is going to be negative for costs in the short and long term.”\n\n“ heated approach is much more necessary here, because it’s so complex,” said Harish Krishnan, a professor at the University of British Columbia’s Sauder School of Business who focuses on supply chain management.\n\nThe U.S. approach, he added, “is going to be negative for costs in the short and long term.”\n\n“ heated approach is much more necessary here, because it’s so complex,” said Harish Krishnan, a professor at the University of British Columbia’s Sauder School of Business who focuses on supply chain management.\n\nThe U.S. approach, he added, “is going to be negative for costs in the short and long term.”

U.S. steelmakers say Trump’s tariffs ‘working,’ want Canada to follow suit

U.S. steelmakers are citing Trump’s tariffs on foreign steel as beneficial to their industry, with companies like Cleveland-Cliffs and Steel Dynamics raising prices by 14% and considering similar increases. They urge Canada to adopt protectionist trade policies, while economists warn of long-term negative effects on costs and consumer prices.