HAMILTON, Ontario — Near a harbor dominated by sprawling steel works, coal piles and a forest of smoke stacks, the crowd at the Galley Pump Tavern in Hamilton had harsh words for President Trump after his imposition of high tariffs on Canadian steel and aluminum.

“It’s insulting. It’s a slap in the Canadians’ face,” said Walter Thomas, who poured molten steel at Stelco, one of the two major producers in Canada’s steel-making epicenter of Hamilton in Ontario, before taking early retirement 13 years ago. “No Canadian wants what Trump is doing. And if gets away with this, what else is he going to ask for? He’s like a little bully; that’s all he is.”

The president’s move has prompted equal parts of anger, disappointment and bafflement here. But infusing it all is fear.



Like auto-making, the steel business has become a continental industry in North America, and the international border is effectively meaningless. But if Mr. Trump’s tariffs effectively restore that barrier and shut Canada out of the United States market, job losses are sure to follow.

