Prime Minister Mark Carney of Canada on July 16, 2025, said that their country will introduce a tariff rate quota for countries with which it happens to have free trade agreements, excluding the United States, in order to protect the domestic steel industry in Canada. A 50% tariff is going to be applied to imports from these countries that surpass the 2024 volumes. Though Canada will honor the existing arrangements with the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement trade partners, Carney said.
In addition to this, Canada will implement a 25% additional tariff on steel imports from all countries that contain steel melted and poured in China before the end of July 2025. Carney happens to be responding to complaints from the domestic steel industry in Canada, which had said that there are certain other nations that are diverting steel to Canada and making the domestic industry uncompetitive because of US tariffs.
Apparently, the Canadian steel industry had asked the government to come up with tougher anti-dumping measures in order to protect the domestic industry. The US president, Donald Trump, went on to increase the import duties on steel and aluminum to 50% from 25% earlier in July 2025. It is well to be noted that Canada happens to be the top seller of steel to the United States.
In addition to this, Carney also said that domestic steel companies would be prioritized when it comes to government procurement. Furthermore, he has also introduced a C$1 billion fund in order to help the steel companies advance their projects with industries such as defense.
Carney pointed out that all these measures will make sure that Canadian steel producers get more competitive as they will protect them against trade diversion, which has resulted from a fast-changing global environment when it comes to steel.
When it comes to countries without free trade agreements with Canada, the government has lowered the tariff-free quota to 50% of 2024 volumes from 100% in the past. Above-the-quota imports will also go on to face a 50% tariff.
The president and CEO of the Canadian Steel Producers Association, Catherine Cobden, in an interview said that the timing was not sufficient for the domestic steelmakers who are already confronting a crisis. This is something that they should have been doing all along, but it is now fantastic to see that there is progress that has been made.
In yet another statement, Canadian steelmaker Evraz went on to say that it has filed a complaint against imports of steel from Mexico, South Korea, the Philippines, and the United States pertaining to the imports of oil country tubular goods, which are priced unfairly.