Tariff blowback could cause a lull in wind power production, advocates for Canada’s renewable energy industry maintain. They’re calling on the Canadian government to exclude wind turbine towers from the list of imported steel-based products that will be subject to a 25 per cent tariff as of Dec. 26, 2025.
While voicing support for the Canadian steel industry, the Canadian Renewable Energy Association (CanREA) argues that there is currently inadequate domestic manufacturing capacity to supply critical infrastructure for a burgeoning number of new wind farms. Project proponents that currently have new generation under development and/or are preparing to respond to imminent deadlines for energy procurement processes in various Canadian jurisdictions have already secured supply chains that often involve offshore tower manufacturers. There’s now a risk purchasers will have to pay a 25 per cent premium on their contracted prices to take delivery of inbound products.
“Imposing steep tariffs on turbine towers risks derailing projects and, in turn, jeopardizes Canada’s ability to power its future economy on time,” says Vittoria Bellissimo, CanREA’s president and chief executive officer.
Prime Minister Mark Carney announced the measure last week as part of a package of supports for Canadian steel and lumber producers. The new tariff will apply on the full value of designated imported products that are primarily derived from steel and can be readily sourced from manufacturers based in Canada. The full list of products slated for tariffs has not yet been released, but background information released along with Carney’s announcement identifies seven categories of imports in line for the new 25 per cent surcharge.
“The initial, carefully selected list is expected to apply to over $10 billion in steel derivative imports. It will cover derivatives for which steel content is a large portion of the full value of the product,” the backgrounder states.
Wind turbine towers are flagged in the “structures” category, which also includes prefabricated buildings and bridges. (Other designated product categories are also pertinent for buildings and facilities management, including: doors and windows; and metal-framed seating and certain metal furniture.)
“Whether we’re building bridges, wind towers or the new homes that people need, we should be using the steel made right here in Saskatchewan and across Canada by our own world-class steelworkers,” Buckley Belanger, Canada’s Secretary of State for Rural Development, observed during an address in Regina last week.
However, for now, there is just one domestic supplier of wind turbine towers, based in Quebec. In 2023, the Canadian International Trade Tribunal decreed that Chinese- manufactured wind towers should not be construed as harmful dumping west of the Ontario-Manitoba border.
CanREA is particularly advocating for tariff exemptions in scenarios where overseas suppliers have already been contracted, or for project proponents approaching the imminent Dec. 18 deadline for a major energy procurement in Ontario. “The companies designing multi-million-dollar projects cannot go back to the drawing board within this short window of time,” it submits.
