Delta received a visit from many powerful people on Thursday, Oct. 15, including Congresswoman Marcy Kaptur. Kaptur met with executives from Nova Steel, a company that has invested in a structural tube plant in the northwest Ohio village.
Since 1983, Kaptur has represented Ohio’s 9th Congressional District, and she said a large part of her political career has been trying to bring manufacturing jobs back to the greater Toledo area after the North Atlantic Fair Trade Agreement (NAFTA) was implemented in 1994, offshoring American manufacturing.
Scott Jones, CEO and president of Nova Steel, a Canadian company that built the plant in 2021, met with Kaptur to discuss the future economic prospects of the region.
“We’re thinking maybe a warehouse expansion, and there’s another part of our business which is service center oriented, but it would also be a backup for the slitter [the machine that cuts large rolls of material into smaller rolls]. We’re just not sure if this is the right place just yet, so we’re looking at options,” Jones said.
The Toledo Free Press asked Jones about the effects of the tariffs implemented by the second Trump administration, which he said did not have a major effect on their Canadian business in a negative way.
“We’re grateful to be here. We’re happy to be here,” he said.
“Everything that is shipped to the United States, we buy the coil in the United States, and we ship it here to the United States. In Canada…it’s the same idea. We’re buying Canadian coil, and we’re shipping to Canadian customers.”
In this way, Nova Steel has avoided the steep tariffs that have affected other businesses that travel between the United States and Canada.
Jones mentioned bipartisan support for his industry and explained further. “I refer to the tariffs being initiated by the first Trump administration, and then Biden coming into power and continuing the 232’s [national security-based import duties], and then of course here we are, the second Trump administration, and that has been good protection for steel.”
Without these tariffs, Jones said his company would not be able to compete with steel from China, not with the labor costs and health and safety requirements in the U.S.
Kaptur said when she first came into office, steel was on a decline, and now she said Nova Steel is one indication that steel and manufacturing may be coming back.
When asked about why Nova Steel invested in northwest Ohio, they mentioned the steel suppliers of Cleveland Cliffs and North Star BlueScope Steel were in the area already.
“This is really the restoration of America’s industrial muscle in both the United States and Canada,” Kaptur said, as Nova Steel contemplates their potential two separate expansions in the area.
“Unless you had seen what Gary, Indiana looked like in 1985, you can’t imagine when you come here,” she said. “This didn’t exist, and now it does.”
“We have been able to restore steel capacity; we’re not finished, in our country,” Kaptur said, and pointed to the many industries in the greater Toledo area which rely on steel for their business.
Jeeps, tanks, F-16’s and F-35’s, were all mentioned by Kaptur. “We have to have these industries both for our for jobs in America, for our industrial progress, but also for our defense,” she said.
During her visit, Kaptur met with Jones; his father, Bryan Jones, who founded the company; Ryan Taberner, senior vice president of Nova Steel; and John Wilkinson, the general manager of the Delta plant. She then toured the plant.
“I’m just so honored to be invited here at Nova Steel, one of the newest companies to keep growing in our area, one that traces its home to Montreal, Canada,” Kaptur said.
Executives from Nova Steel extended the invitation to Kaptur, and said they thought it was a good time to have her over to see the plant.
“We see a lot of certainty in this country,” Jones said. “We think the economy is very strong right now. There’s a little bit of pushback on data centers. I think some adjustments will have to be made, but that train is not stopping. I mean, we’re good right through 2027, probably 2028.” And Jones said by that time, they would be more certain of their expansion into the area.
Jones’ main ask was for better trade protection for the steel industry, particularly in Canada.
