City voices steel tariff concerns at US forum

NEWS RELEASE
CITY OF SAULT STE MARIE
*************************
On behalf of the City of Sault Ste. Marie, Mayor Christian Provenzano participated in a Trade Tariffs Forum in Sterling Heights, Michigan on Monday.

The forum was hosted by the Sterling Heights Regional Chamber of Commerce and guest speakers included Mayor Provenzano, Sterling Heights Mayor Michael Taylor, Congressman Paul Mitchell and Bernard Swiecki, the Director of the Automotive Communities Partnership.

It focused on international trade and tariffs, and Mayor Provenzano led a discussion about the tariff on Canadian steel entering the United States.

“I appreciated the opportunity to discuss the importance of free and fair trade between Canada and the United States, and to make the case for the steel industry,” said Mayor Provenzano. “The tariff poses an unnecessary and harmful threat to our balanced, fair and complementary trade relationship in steel, and this situation needs to be addressed immediately.”

Mayor Provenzano’s participation in the forum stemmed from conversation with Mayor Taylor, which was part of a communications plan developed and implemented this spring in conjunction with Hamilton Mayor Fred Eisenberger.

Mayor Provenzano and Mayor Eisenberger reached out to their counterparts in United States communities that would be particularly negatively impacted by tariffs. Both in outreaches and during his presentation, Mayor Provenzano highlighted the integrated supply chains of industries in the two countries.

“It is important to recognize that the tariff on Canadian steel entering the United States is not just harmful to Canada. For example, to make steel Algoma uses raw materials from communities in Michigan, Kentucky, West Virginia and Virginia and these raw materials are shipped through communities in Michigan and Ohio,” said Mayor Provenzano.

*************************