Recent discussions on U.S. trade tariffs have raised concerns among Canadian manufacturers, with many warning of price increases and supply chain disruptions. A recent article by the local news outlet Burlington Today explored these concerns, featuring insights from local businesses, including JFE Shoji Power Canada.

Ron Harper, CEO of JFE Shoji Power Canada, emphasized the potential impact of tariffs on the electrical steel industry. "Our electrical steel products are extremely niche in the global economy," Harper explained. "We supply what's called a transformer core component made out of electrical steel that is a critical part for our North American OEM clients, who make electrical transformers."

Harper highlighted JFE Shoji's long-standing experience in navigating trade regulations. "We bring globally sourced materials to primarily the U.S. market. That service provides a competition to U.S. producers. We've dealt with this issue for a long time (50 years), so recent discussions of tariffs mean we're not caught flat-footed. We've got all the established connections in place. Our U.S. trade lawyer has been working for a decade to make them familiar with what we do. The U.S. Transformer Manufacturing Assoc., trade officials in Ottawa and Washington are all well known to us."

With the growing demand for electricity, electric vehicles, and data centers, Harper argued that imposing tariffs on transformer core components would be counterproductive. "Now is not the time to put obstacles in the way of investment in growth. We are doing our part to educate how critical this supply chain is to national security and electrification. And certainly, the U.S. administration has put a priority on both of those."

Source: Burlington Today