Selkirk braces for impact of ‘unjustified’ U.S. tariffs on steel, city’s biggest industry

February 11, 2025 Canuck

The U.S. tariffs on steel and aluminum will land hard on the city of Selkirk, where well over 500 people are employed in the industry, Mayor Larry Johannson says.

“It’s not good,” Johannson said. “We are not only Selkirk’s steel mill, but we’re Manitoba’s steel mill.”

President Donald Trump on Monday evening signed orders imposing 25 per cent tariffs on both steel and aluminum entering the U.S. The tariffs are scheduled to take effect March 12.

Manitoba Rolling Mills (now Gerdau Ameristeel Manitoba) was established in Selkirk in 1918 and continues to be the city’s major employer. The city of 10,000 just north of Winnipeg is also home to Karrich Industries and Castle Metals, two other players in the steel industry.

A man in short grey-white hair smiles at the camera. He wears eyeglasses and a coat. — Mayor Larry Johannson is worried about people who could lose their jobs in steel manufacturing in Selkirk. (Submitted by Larry Johannson)

More than 70 per cent of the steel produced in the city heads south of the border, Johannson said.

“We’re looking at a lot of semi-trailers loaded with steel every day that comes out of here on its way to the U.S.,” he said.

It amounts to about $200 million worth of steel annually, said Terry Shaw, vice-president of the Prairies region for the Canadian Manufacturers and Exporters, which is Canada’s largest trade and industry association.

He’s confounded by Trump’s decision to impose the steel tariff, which he says has no logic.

“Quite frankly, it’s unjustified and it’s unacceptable. We are trading partners, we do build things together [and] we have for many, many decades,” Shaw said.

“The U.S. needs our products. We need their products.”

More than 60 per cent of what Canada exports to the United States is what Shaw calls an intermediate input — something required in the overall manufacturing process. And more than half of what the U.S. exports to Canada is the same.

“It’s not like we’re distant trading partners that are selling each other completed goods. We are quite literally building things together across the border,” Shaw said

Close up of a hockey goalie, showing his jersey but not his face — Selkirk’s junior hockey team honours the steel industry in its name. (Manitoba Junior Hockey League)

While he’s concerned about a trade war, Shaw supports retaliatory tariffs imposed by Canada.

“The more we tariff on either side of the border, the more the cost of everything goes up [and] the more challenging and complex the manufacturing process becomes. That said … we do need to reciprocate with counter-tariffs.”

A few decades ago, rebar was the primary product manufactured in Selkirk. That has since expanded to include steel for elevators and several types of construction steel, Johannson said.

“To give you an idea of how far fetching the steel goes, the highest building that was built in Dubai has Selkirk steel in it,” he said. “So it just gives you an idea … how important it is to keep this important industry going.”

During the year-long steel tariffs under the first Trump administration, the Gerdau mill didn’t lay anyone off, Johannson said, but he’s not sure it could weather them this time around, and he worries about those who could be affected.

“There’s [employees] that could be five, six years away from retiring. They’re worried about their pensions. There’s people 40-50 years old, if they lose their job they’re worried, ‘Can I get another job of the same calibre that I have?'” Johannson said.

“And then there’s the young families that have worked at these mills and have young kids to raise and to put through school. When they’re signing these executive orders … I wish they would stop and think about the lives that they’re impacting.”

A man with glasses and a beard looks off to the side of the frame — Terry Shaw of the Canadian Manufacturers and Exporters calls the Trump tariff on steel and aluminum unjustified and unacceptable. (Tyson Koschik/CBC)

Shaw echoed those sentiments.

“Hundreds of jobs, hundreds of families impacted in one community. That’s the concern and that’s the challenge we see with these tariffs and their impacts on Manitoba,” he said.

Shaw’s been meeting regularly with his peers across Canada, CME’s national policy team, and the association’s counterparts in the United States: the National Association of Manufacturers.

“The CME’s goal is just how we can best support our manufacturing members, and right now we’re doing that by … having conversations like this publicly, to get Manitobans, Canadians, then hopefully Americans across the border understanding just how negative these tariffs are,” he said.

“Hopefully this all goes away sooner than later, but doesn’t appear that that will be the case. There is a very strong awareness that this will hurt people on both sides of the border.”

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Canada News

Selkirk braces for impact of ‘unjustified’ U.S. tariffs on steel, city’s biggest industry

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