Selkirk residents weigh impacts on Manitoba steel city on the eve of U.S. tariffs

Some residents of a small, steel-producing city in Manitoba are on edge as the U.S. is yet again poised to impose tariffs on Canadian goods — this time on aluminum and steel.

Global tariffs on exports of the metals to the U.S. are set to take effect on Wednesday after midnight.

Some people living in the city of Selkirk say the 25 per cent levies — which U.S. President Donald Trump threatened to double on Tuesday for Canada before Ontario Premier Doug Ford suspended a tax on electricity to the U.S. — could threaten jobs and heavily impact the community's economy.

The Gerdau Ameristeel Manitoba steel mill — formerly known as Manitoba Rolling Mills — was established in Selkirk in 1907 and is still a major employer for city residents.

More than 70 per cent of the steel produced in the city about 40 kilometres north of Winnipeg is shipped out to the States, the city's mayor says.

Selkirk resident Erin Rudniski said the whole trade war situation is unfair.

"Lots of people are going to lose jobs," she said Tuesday. "I have friends that work in the industry and they're afraid for their jobs. They're afraid that they won't be able to feed their families — and that's a huge concern as a Canadian."

WATCH l Manitoba steel town braces for impact of Trump's tariffs:

About 1 in 20 residents in Selkirk — which has about 10,000 residents — works in the steel industry, according to the city.

The Canadian Manufacturers & Exporters said the steel mill produces about $200 million worth of steel annually.

The association's vice-president for the Prairies, Terry Shaw, said the impact will be "incredibly damaging" not only to the workers and their employer, but the town itself.

"What does it mean for the town of Selkirk and surrounding areas if hundreds of people are on work-share or laid off?," he said.

"What does that mean for the restaurant industry, the hospitality industry?… The impacts are going to be felt much beyond the manufacturer."

'Perplexing and angering'

The United Steelworkers Union represents about 7,500 members in the province.

Scott Lunny, Western Canadian director for the union, said that members are angry and frustrated, as Trump's on-again, off-again trade war clouds their future in uncertainty.

Lunny said the trade war will hurt both sides.

"It's really … perplexing and angering to folks that it's gotten to [this]," he said.

"A lot of the stuff that we ship to the U.S. from Canada goes to create manufacturing jobs in the United States already. And so if that's the goal, a trade war between Canada and the United States isn't good for building up U.S. jobs."

The mill avoided layoffs in 2018, when the first Trump administration imposed similar tariffs on steel and aluminum, the city's mayor said.

Wayne Halipchuk, who used to work at Gerdau but is now retired, said the mill has made it through "thick and thin" over the years and that he's confident nothing serious will happen.

"We've gone through this before and we survived, so …" he said.