Space and defense tech firm Voyager raises US$382.8M in U.S. IPO

By Reuters
 June 11, 2025 

Voyager Technologies raised $382.8 million in its U.S. initial public offering, the space and defense tech company said on Tuesday, amid a global rush to amp up military spending.

The company, which provides mission-critical space and defense technology solutions, along with some investors sold roughly 12.35 million shares at $31 per share, above its marketed range of $26 to $29.

The offering is the latest in recent weeks as the U.S. IPO market regained its footing after being restricted by tariff-driven volatility.

The Denver, Colorado–based company’s IPO comes as President Donald Trump’s administration looks to sharply increase spending on defense and space projects.

Trump last month selected a design for his $175 billion Golden Dome project, a next-generation U.S. missile defense shield.

The stock will trade on the New York Stock Exchange on Wednesday under the symbol “VOYG.”

Morgan Stanley and J.P. Morgan are the lead underwriters on the listing.

(Reporting by Ateev Bhandari and Manya Saini in Bengaluru; Editing by Sriraj Kalluvila)

U.S. importers turn to brokers to navigate Trump-era tariffs, at a cost

By Reuters
 June 11, 2025

A truck drives by shipping containers at the port of the port of New York & New Jersey in Elizabeth, N.J., Monday May 12, 2025. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke) (Matt Rourke/AP)

NEW YORK — U.S. importers are increasingly relying on customs brokers to keep up with President Donald Trump’s ever-changing trade policies. But booming demand for help in processing foreign goods has made these services more expensive, adding another cost to the tariff burden, industry players told Reuters.

Customs brokerages, until recently an anonymous branch of the import ecosystem, handle the paperwork needed to process shipments and calculate tariff bills. Mom-and-pop brokers interviewed by Reuters say they are raising fees, while major logistics firms like Memphis, Tennessee-based FedEx FDX.N and Germany-based DHL DHLn.DE are also adding staff to their customs compliance teams.

Market research firms ballpark customs brokering as a roughly $5 billion industry in the United States. Hiring a broker is optional, but the increasing complexities of U.S. tariffs and customs regulations are leading more importers to shell out the cash.

Independent brokers like Laredo, Texas-based JD Gonzalez are fielding dozens of questions daily from concerned clients struggling to understand what they may owe to U.S. Customs and Border Protection, and whether to go ahead with shipments or hold off.

Brokers are also spending more time and labor on customs forms than ever, and have in some cases implemented new IT systems.


“With all the new information we have to process, some of the automation we’ve used has been thrown out, so there’s more work to do,” said JD Gonzalez, who is also president of custom brokerage trade group NCBFAA.

The trend is part of a broader wave of corporate efforts to bolster trade compliance operations. Major companies, from Nike NKE.Nto AmazonAMZN.Oto Lowe’s LOW.N, had published job postings as of Wednesday for trade and customs professionals.

Nike was seeking a “lead” for trade and customs, who would “play a pivotal role in shaping the future of our trade compliance framework,” according to the post on Nike’s careers website. Amazon, meanwhile, had at least 10 U.S. customs brokerage jobs listed on its careers website. Lowe’s had three.

Nike, Amazon and Lowe’s did not respond to requests for comment.
HIGHER FEES

Independent brokers often base their fees on the number of codes they must enter to classify the contents of a given shipment. Known as harmonized tariff schedule codes, these line items help border officials distinguish car parts from children’s toys, and determine proper tariff rates.

Prior to Trump’s frenetic tariff policies, fees ranged from around $4 to $7 per code. But Gonzalez said the extra costs brokers have incurred as they ramp up systems to handle the tariff changes have led some to increase fees by $1 to $5 per code.

Gonzalez said he has raised fees “nominally,” while Steve Bozicevic, CEO of A&A Customs Brokers headquartered in Seattle and Vancouver, said his company added $3 per product type being imported into the U.S. because of merchandise facing “tariff stacking,” a phrase used when an item faces multiple tariffs.

“We raised the rates for the U.S. because of the new and added complexity,” Bozicevic said. The company has not raised rates for imports into Canada because there’s “no new complexity,” he said.

United Parcel Service UPS.N raised brokerage rates in December between $3.75 and $50 per import entry, depending on the country of origin. The move was part of general rate increases and unrelated to changes in tariffs, a UPS spokesperson told Reuters. FedEx’s logistics arm increased its base customs brokerage rates by 4 per cent in January, according to a company spokesperson.

These bigger logistics companies, which include brokerage services in their broader shipping offerings, are also beefing up staff. DHL has upped headcount on its U.S. customs entry team by 30 per cent since February, according to a spokesperson for the company’s DHL Express shipping unit.


FedEx had more than 40 open job postings on its customs and trade teams as of Tuesday, mainly based in the U.S., according to its LinkedIn jobs page. UPS had 10 similar U.S. positions open, according to its jobs website.

FedEx is “adjusting our network to meet demand” in an evolving tariff landscape, which “includes hiring additional customs brokerage roles,” the spokesperson said. UPS declined to comment on the job postings.

Historically, tariff changes have been less frequent, say brokers, trade lawyers and other trade professionals, and they have come with weeks of lead time, allowing brokers to prepare for the change and provide logistical feedback to CBP.

Compare that to last week’s doubling of steel and aluminum tariffs to 50 per cent, which Trump announced abruptly, forcing the U.S. customs department to quickly publish official guidance just hours ahead of a midnight change.

“Many brokers clear shipments ahead of time, so then you have to come back and retroactively redo it and fix it,” said Miami-based customs broker Ralph De La Rosa, whose company, Imperial Freight Brokers, was founded by his father 54 years ago.

Even brokers who have not raised fees said their services have become inherently more expensive as the number of HTS codes has spiked.

Importers slowed shipments into the United States after Trump’s massive tariff announcement on April 2, after having frontloaded purchases earlier in the year to get ahead of an expected rise in duties.

Imports of consumer goods, which include cell phones and other household items, decreased $68.9 billion to $277.9 billion in April from a month before, according to the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis. Trump announced additional tariffs on steel and aluminum in June and in May threatened to impose 50 per cent tariffs on the European Union.

Adding to the uncertainty, a federal appellate court on Tuesday ruled that sweeping tariffs may remain in effect while appeals proceed, after a trade court ruled that the U.S. president overstepped his executive powers and blocked the duties. The appellate scheduled arguments for July 31.

(Reporting by Arriana McLymore and Nicholas Brown in New York, Editing by Lisa Jucca, David Gaffen and Andrea Ricci)

Luxembourg opens Ottawa embassy as Canada shifts its attention to Europe

By The Canadian Press
June 11, 2025 

Luxembourg City's old town skyline is seen from across the deep gorge that runs through the city in July, 1996. (AP Photo/Paul Ames)

OTTAWA — The federal government says its “best friends” are Europeans amid a drift with the United States, as Luxembourg opens an Ottawa embassy aimed at boosting a knowledge-based economy.

“This moment in time is witness to a changing and stressed geostrategic environment,” Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand said Wednesday.

“Issues relating to defence and security -- not to mention economic survival and affordability -- are at the very top of mind for us all,” she said at an event where her Luxembourg colleague Xavier Bettel officially opened a new embassy in Ottawa.

Anand’s parliamentary secretary Rob Oliphant said her presence at the event showed “the absolute importance that we are placing on Europe” in the coming weeks and years.

“Canada is depending more and more on Europe as our best friends in the world. The European Union, and other European countries, are absolutely critically important to Canada’s success and Canada’s future,” he said.


Luxembourg is a major financial hub and Statistics Canada ranks it as the eighth largest source of foreign direct investment in Canada, which does not include other countries’ indirect funding through Luxembourg.

Bettel told reporters near Parliament Hill that the embassy that has been operating since last December was decided on before the return of Donald Trump to the White House.

“It’s a win-win situation and it’s not against (the) U.S.A.; it’s not against someone,” he said. “It’s not America First and the others behind; it has to be a win-win situation for all the partners.”

Bettel said he chose to place an embassy in Canada because it’s a “trusted partner” with shared values who hosted the country’s head of state, Grand Duchess Charlotte, in Montreal during the Second World War.

He said Canada is the only G7 country without an embassy in Luxembourg, and hopes Ottawa opens a diplomatic mission instead of following his country from neighbouring Belgium.

With just 680,000 people, Luxembourg is one of Europe’s most sparsely populated nations, even with the 200,000 workers who commute from neighbouring countries.

But the country has outsized clout in financial markets, according to Robert Harmsen, an Edmonton native and a political scientist at the University of Luxembourg.

“It’s a gateway to Europe that it is not only a major financial centre, it’s also a logistics hub; it’s also a very good place if you’re looking for a European base, or to expand into Europe,” he said.

Likewise, “Canada potentially is a North American gateway” for Luxembourg, he said.

For decades, Luxembourg was a major steel producer, and it was among six countries who formed a continental steel and aluminum agreement in 1951 that later morphed into the European Union.

Harmsen said the country became an innovator in financial services and found ways to package investments to lower tax bills, thus earning a reputation as a tax haven. It hosts the European court that deals with most commercial and regulatory cases.


More recently, he said, the country has tried to become a knowledge economy with a focus on cybersecurity, outer-space technology and systems biomedicine.

Harmsen was part of Luxembourg’s trade mission to Canada in 2022, where he said there was a focus on partnering with aerospace and pharmaceutical companies, particularly in Quebec as most people in Luxembourg speak French.

The country launched another trade mission in 2024 and decided to open an embassy, ahead of Prime Minister Mark Carney being elected on a pledge to seek deeper trade ties with Europe.

Canada signed a trade agreement with the European Union that came into force in 2017, and Harmsen noted that Canadian exports to the continent have not gone up nearly as much as European exports to Canada.

“I’ve lost count of the number of times that Canada was going to turn to Europe, and that there was going to be a big initiative to actually strengthen relationships, economic, political, cultural, and otherwise,” he said.

“If there is going to be the kind of diversification that Carney’s been talking about and the Canadian government’s been talking about, this is the sort of thing that needs seriously to be looked at,” Harmsen said.

Bettel said both Luxembourg and Canada have learned the importance of having “a strong economy” that doesn’t rely on one partner, whether it’s Russian gas, Chinese microchips or American trade opportunities.

“As a European continent, we were always dependent on someone else,” he said. “This is what we learned, from the lessons of the last 10 years.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 11, 2025.

Barrick Mining removes Mali gold complex from 2025 output forecast, sources say

By Reuters
 June 11, 2025

This undated file photo shows Barrick Goldstrike Mines' Betze-Post open pit near Carlin, Nev. (Adella Harding/The Daily Free Press via AP, File)

TORONTO/DAKAR — Barrick Mining has removed its Mali gold complex from its overall output forecast for 2025, four sources told Reuters, adding to fallout from a two-year dispute over new mining legislation aimed at boosting the West African country’s revenue.

Operations at the Loulo-Gounkoto gold complex, one of the Canadian miner’s largest gold assets in Africa, have been suspended since January after the military-led government blocked gold exports by the world’s third-largest miner of the precious metal, detained staff and seized three metric tons of stock during separate negotiations over a new mining contract with Barrick.

At stake for both sides is the opportunity to realize revenues worth at least US$1 billion this year due to record high gold prices. Mali risks repelling potential investors, while Barrick shares have lagged those of its peers.

The sources spoke on condition of anonymity as they were not authorized to speak publicly.

Spokespersons for Barrick did not immediately respond to a request for comment, nor did a spokesperson for Mali’s Mines Ministry.

Barrick has not made its Mali output forecast public, but Morningstar analysts had predicted Mali would contribute around 250,000 ounces in 2025.

Mali’s government, a shareholder in the complex, asked a domestic court in May to appoint a provisional administrator to reopen the complex, which would effectively see Barrick lose control over the mines that accounted for 14 per cent of its total output, according to Jefferies.

A court hearing on the matter is scheduled for Thursday.

Negotiations are ongoing in parallel with the court case. In a significant concession, Mali has agreed to allow Barrick to repatriate 20 per cent of its earnings into an international bank account, an exception that was not made for any other foreign miners who recently renegotiated contracts with the state, two people familiar with the matter said.

However, one remaining point of contention between Barrick and Mali is that authorities would like all future disputes to be handled in domestic courts. Barrick said any new mining contract should be covered under an international treaty and, in case of future disputes, be settled through international arbitration, according to one of the people and another source familiar with the matter.

While strong gold prices have supported Barrick’s global revenue, the threat of a provisional administration worries investors, one of the sources said, noting that even if the miner later regains control of the complex, it could be left with depleted gold reserves.

In December, Barrick launched international arbitration proceedings against Mali. In May, it asked the World Bank’s arbitration court to halt court proceedings in Bamako over provisional administration. According to two people aware of the development, the tribunal rejected that request.

The president of the arbitration tribunal for the case declined to comment.

In the first nine months of 2024, production in Mali contributed us$949 million to Barrick’s revenue. Jefferies, in an analyst report last December, estimated that if the Mali complex remains idle, Barrick would lose 11 per cent of its expected 2025 earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization.

Mali is Africa’s third-largest gold-producing country.

Malian authorities, which seized power in coups in 2020 and 2021, say their current agreement with Barrick is unfair.


The state has negotiated new agreements with other multinational miners. The chief executive of Australian miner Resolute was detained for more than a week amid negotiations last year.

---

Reporting by Divya Rajagopal in Toronto and Portia Crowe in Dakar; Editing by Veronica Brown and Rod Nickel.

Ottawa’s GST rebate on new homes would save typical first-time buyer $27K: PBO

THE ACTUAL MINIMUM DOWNPAYMENT REQUIRED

By The Canadian Press
June 11, 2025

Houses for sale in a new subdivision in Airdrie, Alta.

 THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jeff McIntosh

OTTAWA — An eligible first-time homebuyer could save an average of $26,832 in sales tax on the price of a newly built home under Ottawa’s latest housing proposal, the parliamentary budget officer said in a new report on Wednesday.

But the PBO’s estimate of the plan’s total cost is substantially lower than the federal government’s estimate, and ministers responsible for the file have not offered an explanation for the gap.

In a new analysis released Wednesday, the federal fiscal watchdog predicts that 71,711 new builds would qualify for GST relief over the lifetime of the program.

The proposal would see the federal portion of the sales tax eliminated on a new home worth up to $1 million if it’s bought by a qualifying first-time homebuyer.

The GST rebate would be phased down as the price of the home approaches $1.5 million.

Homes bought from May 27 through to 2031 can qualify for the rebate, as long as construction starts before 2031 and finishes by 2036.

With some exceptions, Canadians who have owned a home already are not eligible for the GST relief. Neither are investors.

The PBO forecasts the program will cost $1.9 billion over six years, about $100 million lower than the estimate it presented during the spring federal election campaign. It attributes that gap to a later implementation date and a different definition used for first-time homebuyers.

The federal government, meanwhile, estimated the “tax savings” for Canadians at $3.9 billion over five years when the legislation was tabled on May 27. The Liberals’ spring election platform costed the GST rebate at around $1.6 billion over four years.

A PBO spokesperson said in an email that any difference in figures is likely due to assumptions about the share of homes ultimately bought by first-time buyers, but deferred to Finance Canada for questions about the government’s figures.

Finance Minister François-Philippe Champagne did not stop for questions about the cost discrepancy on his way out of the Liberal caucus meeting Wednesday. His office did not respond to a request for clarification.

Housing Minister Gregor Robertson also did not comment about the PBO report when asked Wednesday. He told reporters he would answer questions “tomorrow.”

A Desjardins Economics analysis of the proposal released Monday offered one explanation for the discrepancy between the PBO’s cost estimate and the government’s figure: Ottawa might think its program will be more popular than the PBO does.

A higher cost estimate suggests more first-time homebuyers purchasing qualifying new builds, in other words.

The GST rebate, which is not yet law, was included in the Liberals’ spring election platform as a way to help Canadians break into the housing market.

A home priced at $1 million would receive the maximum rebate of $50,000. Homes priced below that amount would still get the full rebate — but since the sales tax is a taken off a lower overall cost, the size of the rebate would be reduced accordingly.

The rebate also would be lower than $50,000 for homes sold above $1 million because the rebate gradually ramps down until it zeros out at a purchase price of $1.5 million.

The Desjardins report by economist Kari Norman said that if the program proves popular with first-time buyers, it could spur additional housing construction to meet higher demand.

The PBO said it does not include possible behavioural responses to the program in its analysis.

Norman noted in her report that it’s also possible increased demand from homebuyers will push up home prices in the near-term.

She estimated that 85 per cent of new homes built in Canada over the program time frame will be eligible for the full GST break of up to $50,000.

In cases where the GST portion of a new home sale is rolled into the mortgage principal, the typical owner could expect to save $240 per month on mortgage payments, she said. The savings are more direct when a developer charges the GST upfront.

The measure is packaged in legislation that also includes the Liberals’ promised income tax cut, which is set to take effect July 1.

---

Craig Lord, The Canadian Press

This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 11, 2025.

Dollarama earns $273.8M Q1 profit, up from $215.8M a year ago, sales up 8.2 per cent

By The Canadian Press
June 11, 2025 

A person cycles past a Dollarama store in Montreal

THE CANADIAN PRESS/Christinne Muschi


MONTREAL — Tariff tensions don’t appear to be weighing on Dollarama Inc. sales yet, but executives at the discount goods retailer are bracing for that to potentially change because consumers are “fragile.”

Market chart of DOL:CT
DOL:CT
$192.99+17.23+9.80%
As of:June 12, 2025 at 3:45 AM

The Montreal-based business reported Wednesday that its first-quarter sales increased by 8.2 per cent to $1.52 billion. Its profit during the period ended May 4 soared by 27 per cent to $273.8 million, up from $215.8 million a year earlier.

Dollarama chief financial officer Patrick Bui framed the increases as a sign that shoppers still see his retailer as providing value, even while they’re more generally cutting back on discretionary purchases.

But given the “unpredictable trade environment”, he is taking nothing for granted.

“When you go back to February and March, we all saw the data on consumer confidence and it was at an all-time low,” he said on an earnings call with analysts.

“As we moved through the quarter, we did see a resilient consumer in the back half ... but we do sense the consumer being fragile and with all the uncertainty in the market, it’s very hard to see how that will evolve.”


Bui’s remarks came roughly a week after the U.S. doubled Canadian steel and aluminum tariffs to 50 per cent. This week saw officials from the U.S. and China to London to try to reach some semblance of a truce after the world’s two biggest economies spent recent months volleying eye-popping duties at one another before reaching a 90-day détente.

Dollarama, which sources goods from all over the world, has previously said it sees the tariffs as being “manageable” for its business but “consumer confidence will be a major challenge.”

It stuck with that messaging Wednesday, when it indicated it has been “working extremely hard” to boost consumer confidence by holding its prices for as long as possible.

“Price adjustments are always a last resort for us,” CEO Neil Rossy said on the same call as Bui, while pledging to maintain Dollarama’s existing price point range.

As part of those efforts Dollarama executives visited China in April, when tariffs between the country and the U.S. were intensifying.

At first, Dollarama was able to use the drama to negotiate some advantages with FOB — a shipping term that’s short for Free on Board and refers to agreements between buyers and sellers dictating, when the ownership and liabilities of goods transfer between them.

However, “the vendors were reticent to pass on any discounts or to sell any of the goods that were being held for their American customers,” Rossy said.

“They were waiting to see what would happen and possibly change with U.S. policies and they were right to do so because U.S. policies changed,” he said referring to the 90-day reprieve. “In the end they shipped their goods, and it was pretty much back to business as usual.”

His comments were made a few hours after the retailer released its latest financial results, showing its first-quarter profit amounted to 98 cents per diluted share, up from 77 cents per diluted share a year earlier.

Excluding an unrealized gain from a derivative on equity-accounted investment, Dollarama said it would have earned 95 cents per diluted share in its most recent quarter.


The increase came as comparable store sales for the quarter increased by 4.9 per cent, including a 3.7 per cent increase in the number of transactions and a 1.2 per cent increase in average transaction size.

The quarter covered a period when it announced Dollarama announced it will buy Australian discount retailer, the Reject Shop.

The deal valued at $233 million is expected to see Dollarama expand the Australian acquisition’s footprint to about 700 stores by 2034.

Rossy expects the transaction to close by the end of July, assuming it lands necessary Australian approvals.

---

Tara Deschamps, The Canadian Press

This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 11, 2025.

Heineken to invest over US$2.7B in Mexico through 2028

By Reuters
 June 11, 2025 

Bottles of Heineken beer 

MEXICO CITY — Beer maker Heineken will invest US$2.75 billion in different projects in Mexico, the company’s CEO in the country said on Wednesday.

Oriol Bonaclocha said during Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum’s morning press conference that the investment will include the construction of a new factory in the country’s southeast.

The new plant in the state of Yucatan will have an initial production capacity of 4 million hectoliters and that amount is expected to be doubled in the future depending on the company’s needs, Bonaclocha said.

“We do not plan to close any factories, this is an expansion,” he added.

In April, Grupo Modelo, the producer of Corona and other Mexican beer brands, announced it would invest more than $3.6 billion in Mexico, despite concerns over water shortages in the country.

The relationship between beer makers and other industries like agriculture has been a longstanding issue in Mexico.

Almost three years ago, the construction of a Constellation Brands brewery in Mexicali was halted to protect local water resources and moved to Veracruz in eastern Mexico.

(Reporting by Raul Cortes and Aida Pelaez-Fernandez. Editing by Chizu Nomiyama and Mark Potter)

GM to invest US$4B to shift some production from Mexico to the U.S.

By The Associated Press
June 11, 2025 

Vehicles move along the 2023 Chevrolet Bolt EV and EUV assembly line at the General Motors Orion Assembly June 15, 2023, in Lake Orion, Mich.

 (AP Photo/Carlos Osorio, File)

Shares of General Motors rose before the opening bell after announcing plans to invest $4 billion to shift some production from Mexico to U.S. manufacturing plants as the automaker navigates tariffs that could drive prices higher.

President Trump signed executive orders in April, relaxing some of his 25 per cent tariffs on automobiles and auto parts, a significant reversal as the import taxes threatened to hurt domestic manufacturers.

Automakers and independent analyses say the tariffs could raise prices, reduce sales and make U.S. production less competitive worldwide. Trump portrayed the changes as a bridge toward automakers moving more production into the United States.

GM said late Tuesday that the investment will be made over the next two years and is for its gas and electric vehicles. The company will add production of the gas-powered Chevrolet Blazer and Chevrolet Equinox, which are made in Mexico, to two American plants starting in 2027. The Blazer will be produced at GM’s Spring Hill, Tennessee plant, while the Equinox will be made at its Kansas City, Kansas facility.

GM will also begin making gas-powered full-size SUVs and light duty pickup trucks at its Orion Township, Michigan plant, which was previously being reconfigured to make electric vehicles until demand for such cars weakened.

The new investment will give GM the ability to assemble more than 2 million vehicles per year in the U.S.

CEO Mary Barra said in a statement on Tuesday that GM is committed to building vehicles in the U.S. and supporting American jobs.

GM has 50 U.S. manufacturing plants and parts facilities in 19 states, including 11 vehicle assembly plants. The company says that almost 1 million people in the U.S. depend on it for their livelihood, including employees, suppliers, and dealers.

Last month GM lowered its profit expectations for the year as it braces for a potential impact from auto tariffs as high as $5 billion in 2025. The automaker now foresees full-year adjusted earnings before interest and taxes in a range of $10 billion to $12.5 billion. The guidance includes a current tariff exposure of $4 billion to $5 billion. GM previously predicted 2025 adjusted EBIT between $13.7 billion and $15.7 billion.

Shares of General Motors Co. rose almost 1 per cent before the opening bell Wednesday.

Michelle Chapman, The Associated Press

ArcelorMittal closing wire drawing mill in Hamilton in latest industry blow

By The Canadian Press
 June 11, 2025 

A steel worker works at the ArcelorMittal Dofasco steel plant in Hamilton, Ont., on Wednesday, March 12, 2025. 

THE CANADIAN PRESS/Nathan Denette 

HAMILTON — Canada’s steel industry was hit with further layoff news Wednesday as ArcelorMittal Long Products Canada announced it is closing its wire drawing mill in Hamilton.

The decision puts 153 employees out of work and adds to the hundreds of workers in the industry already hit by a combination of tariff concerns, market demand and cheap imports coming into the market.

ArcelorMittal did not mention the 50 per cent tariffs the U.S. has imposed on Canadian steel products in its decision to consolidate its wire operations in Montreal, but did cite the wider pressures.

“Despite our best efforts, the ongoing economic challenges, increased steel imports in Canada, and market conditions made it clear that we needed to reduce our operating footprint,” said spokesman Jean-Philippe Grou in a statement.

He said the decision came after the company thoroughly looked at the alternatives, and the focus is now on supporting employees.

Mike Hnatjuk, president of United Steelworkers Local 5328 that represents workers at the mill acknowledged the operation was already facing challenges, including steel dumping from China. He said the U.S. tariffs were “a nail in the coffin” for the mill, but that the company said it could have happened anyway.

“They were saying even without, even if the tariffs weren’t here, there is a high possibility that this was going to happen.”

He noted the company relies heavily on the automotive sector, which in Canada is also under intense pressure from tariffs.

Hnatjuk, who expects to begin talks with the company regarding a closure agreement next week, said he’s been told the company plans to stop operations by the end of the month.

“We have stuff in our collective agreement that we hope that they’re going to follow and they’re going to offer and are we most definitely going to try to get what’s best for all this,” he said.

Hamilton Mayor Andrea Horwath said in a statement that she is deeply concerned for the workers affected.

“This is a serious blow to our community, with immediate and lasting impacts on people’s lives,” said Horwath.

“This closure underscores the urgent need for action from the federal government.”

The Canadian Steel Producers Association has been pushing the federal government to fully reinstate retaliatory tariffs on the U.S. after it doubled tariffs on Canadian steel and aluminum to 50 per cent last week.

Efforts to reverse the tariffs hit a setback Tuesday after a U.S. federal appeals court agreed that U.S. President Donald Trump’s sweeping global tariffs will remain in place while a case is heard. The decision extends an emergency stay granted after a lower court found the devastating duties unlawful.

The steel producers group says more than 700 workers had already been laid off since the 25 per cent tariffs were imposed in March.

Along with countering U.S. tariffs, the group is also pushing for the government to put tariffs on steel products that originate in China because of allegations of unfair government support.

ArcelorMittal Long Products Canada chief executive Stéphane Brochu said the company’s decision to shut the Hamilton line was necessary to ensure the sustainability its wire drawing business.

“It will allow us to improve our operational efficiency and secure our long-term competitiveness in the demanding wire drawing market,” he said in a statement.

ArcelorMittal Long Products Canada has more than 2,000 employees with operations at multiple sites in Quebec.

The company produces more than two million tonnes of steel that is used in such things as rebar for the construction industry and for leaf springs in light and heavy-duty trucks.

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This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 11, 2025.

Trigon gives green light to LPG export facility in Prince Rupert, B.C.

By The Canadian Press
June 11, 2025 

The bulk carrier Unicorn Ocean is seen loading coal at Ridley Terminals, part of the Prince Rupert port system, March 8, 2013. Ridley Terminals was renamed Trigon Pacific Terminals in April 2022. 

THE CANADIAN PRESS/Robin Rowland

PRINCE RUPERT — Trigon Pacific Terminals is giving a green light to a new $750-million liquefied petroleum gas export facility in Prince Rupert, B.C.

Trigon chief executive Rob Booker says the company now needs the federal government to expedite the shovel-ready project that he says is in the national interest.

Subject to all necessary legal and regulatory approvals, Trigon says the facility is expected to start exports in late 2029.

It will have annual capacity of 2.5 million tonnes per year.

The company says the final investment decision comes with support from the Lax Kw’alaams and Metlakatla First Nations.


Trigon already operates a multi-commodity bulk export terminal at the Port of Prince Rupert.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 11, 2025.

Alberta premier says province is looking to entice private-sector pipeline builder

By The Canadian Press
Updated: June 11, 2025 

Alberta Premier Danielle Smith speaks at the Global Energy Show in Calgary on Wednesday, June 11, 2025. 

THE CANADIAN PRESS/Lauren Krugel

CALGARY — The Alberta government is working to entice a private-sector player to build a major crude pipeline to coastal waters, Premier Danielle Smith said Wednesday.

“We’re talking to all of the pipeline proponents; anyone who has had success in building a pipeline in Canada and has an interest in perhaps coming together as a consortium. Or, if one emerges as being a principal proponent, then we’ll be interested in talking to them, too,” Smith told reporters following a speech to the Global Energy Show.

“But we know that it’s a chicken and egg problem, that no one’s going to come forward with a project without some guarantee that it is going to be approved.”

Alberta could help the project along by committing barrels of physical bitumen received in lieu of cash royalties from oilsands producers, Smith said.

She has been enthusiastic about reviving a plan to ship oilsands crude to the northern B.C. coast for export to Asia, and the end point she sees making the most sense is Prince Rupert, B.C.


Enbridge Inc. had once planned to ship crude to another northern B.C. port, Kitimat, via its proposed Northern Gateway pipeline. That project was nixed in 2016 when the federal government banned tankers off the northern B.C. coast.

Enbridge CEO Greg Ebel has said it would take a major overhaul in federal regulations for his company to revisit such a proposal.

Smith said Prince Rupert might be a more viable choice than Kitimat, as it has a less treacherous route out to the open Pacific and many other commodities already move out of there.

Smith said no company will agree to build a pipeline to the northern B.C. coast as long as there is a tanker ban, and oilsands companies aren’t going to expand their production as long as there’s a federal emissions cap.

The premier urged conference attendees to keep up the pressure on Prime Minister Mark Carney’s government to do what needs to be done to get “nation-building” projects built.

“Anything less than success means failing to act for Canada. It means failing to stand up for democracy and peaceful global development,” she said.

“And most importantly, it means a loss of economic prosperity that future Canadian youth and families cannot count on to enhance their standard of living locally and to eliminate energy poverty globally.”

With U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariffs throwing the Canada-U.S. trade relationship into disarray, there have been growing calls for Canada to tap into other markets for its resources.

The only way meaningful amounts of Canadian oil can currently flow to customers outside the United States is via the federally owned Trans Mountain pipeline to the B.C. Lower Mainland, whose expansion started up about a year ago.

Carney recently met with provincial and territorial premiers to hear about what projects they’d like to see fast-tracked under new legislation, but has not said which have made the cut.

Smith said she’ll give the Liberals until the fall legislative session to determine whether Carney is serious about his pledge to make Canada an “energy superpower.”

Smith is also keen on accessing global markets via the East Coast or a pipeline to the Port of Churchill in northern Manitoba, which would give tanker access to Hudson Bay.

Smith heaped praise on Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew — a New Democrat of a much different political stripe than her United Conservative Party — for being open to that idea.

“He has been very vocal in saying that he wants Churchill to be a major export hub, including oil and gas, and he’s been unequivocal about that,” Smith said.

B.C. NDP Premier David Eby, on the other hand, has been skeptical about pursuing a Northern Gateway-like proposal while Trans Mountain, already in operation, is not running full at full capacity and could be further expanded to meet producers’ needs.

Smith did not appear deterred. In an onstage interview with former CBC anchor Peter Mansbridge at the conference, she said with a chuckle: “I’ll convince David Eby.”

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Lauren Krugel, The Canadian Press

This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 11, 2025.