Trade data shows U.S. steel is most of Canada’s galvanized and coated imports, adding pressure on Stelco

The Story

Federal trade figures reviewed by the government show American steel accounts for more than half of Canada’s imports of galvanized and coated steel sheet, challenging an argument made by Stelco owner Cleveland-Cliffs about the role of cheap overseas imports.

Global Affairs Canada data shows 54.1% of the country’s 625,726 tonnes of galvanized and coated steel sheet imports during the first nine months of 2026 came from the United States. Cleveland-Cliffs has argued that dumped offshore steel imports are among the top causes behind idling at its Hamilton, Ont., steel plant.

Colin Mang, an assistant professor of economics at McMaster University, said the claim that offshore steel is being dumped into Canada does not align with the latest trade figures. He said much of the imported steel comes from the United States and that import prices for galvanized and coated steel have risen over the last several months.

Mang also said Canada continues to import large quantities of steel even as domestic demand weakens, a dynamic that adds pressure on Canadian producers already facing declining exports to the United States.

Cleveland-Cliffs CEO Lourenco Goncalves has said Canada’s galvanized steel market is too small for two domestic producers alongside what he called an “avalanche of imports.”

In an Oct. 9 letter to Industry Minister Mélanie Joly, Stelco president and general counsel Paul Simon said the company’s difficulties were partly linked to the “market-depressing impact of dumped, offshore imports” and U.S. tariffs. Simon acknowledged that Ottawa’s steel import restrictions, introduced in June 2025 and strengthened in December, reduced some overseas imports, but said they had done little to protect the cold-rolled and coated products produced at Stelco’s Hamilton finishing operations.

In response, Joly said federal measures restricting overseas steel imports were outlined in an Oct. 22 letter to Stelco, including tighter quotas introduced in December 2025. Joly said imports from the United States and Mexico remain exempt from those restrictions.