Source: Cleveland-Cliffs / Stelco announcements, as reported by The Associated Press, AME Research and SMM
Cleveland-Cliffs has announced that it will indefinitely idle the cold-rolled and coated steel finishing operations at Stelco's Hamilton Works in Ontario, with the wind-down beginning on or about 9 October 2026. The decision, communicated to employees in a memo on 28 September and confirmed publicly the following day, puts up to 500 employees at risk of layoff. The Ohio-based steelmaker attributed the move to United States tariffs on Canadian steel, which it said have significantly shrunk the market for the plant's cold-rolled and galvanised products.
Stelco, a historic Canadian steelmaker acquired by Cleveland-Cliffs in a USD 2.4 billion transaction completed in late 2024, operates two major facilities in Ontario: Hamilton Works and the Lake Erie Works in Nanticoke. The company said it intends to consolidate most of its Canadian production at Nanticoke, and affected Hamilton employees will be offered relocation opportunities there. Demand for cold-rolled and galvanised sheet, grades used in automotive, appliance and construction applications, fell almost 25 percent in the second quarter of 2026 compared with the 2024 quarterly average, including a 10 percent decline within Canada. Chief executive Lourenco Goncalves described the market as having effectively disappeared and characterised the idling as an unfortunate but necessary step to ensure the company's survival.
The tariff backdrop has deteriorated sharply over the past eighteen months. Washington imposed 25 percent Section 232 tariffs on Canadian steel in March 2025, doubled the rate to 50 percent in June 2025, and additional measures introduced in August 2026 have pushed combined duties on some metal products close to 75 percent. Canada shipped roughly USD 13 billion of steel to the United States in 2024, more than any other country, and the disruption has already contributed to about 1,000 layoffs across the Canadian industry, including a separate round at Algoma Steel in Sault Ste. Marie.
The decision has provoked a strong political response in Ottawa. Prime Minister Mark Carney accused the company of betraying Canadian workers and said the federal government, which offered financial assistance to preserve jobs, intends to use all available legal powers to enforce the five-year employment commitments accepted when the Stelco acquisition was approved. Cleveland-Cliffs shares fell about 9 percent following the announcement, and industry watchers will be monitoring how the consolidation at Nanticoke proceeds as North American trade conditions continue to evolve.
