Canada Minister Threatens to Force Cleveland-Cliffs Asset Sale

Canada’s industry minister said the government has the power to force Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. to sell its assets the country, escalating a dispute over job cuts at the company’s steel operations in Ontario.

Speaking to reporters in Ottawa, Mélanie Joly said Canada’s main investment law allows the government to take a number of actions against the steel company, including financial penalties or “forcing them to sell their Canadian assets. Everything is on the table.”

Cleveland-Cliffs has laid off hundreds of workers at its Stelco operation in Hamilton, Ontario, which it acquired in 2024. The company says the trade war between Canada and the US has created a situation “beyond its control,” forcing it idle parts of Stelco that make cold-rolled and coated steel. It cited the Trump administration’s decision to impose 50% tariffs on foreign steel products.

Prime Minister Mark Carney has called the job reductions a “betrayal” and threatened legal action.

“I’m always open to sit down with the company and find a solution, but we’re looking at everything that is possible to keep jobs in Canada,” Joly said Wednesday.

A spokesperson for Cleveland-Cliffs didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

In a letter to Joly dated Oct. 9, the Cleveland-Cliffs division denied it broke employment promises made at the time of the acquisition.

“The undertakings do not stipulate a commitment to avoid layoffs, nor do they include a requirement that employment levels be above a certain amount on each day of the five years of the undertakings,” Stelco President and General Counsel Paul Simon wrote.