The Globe and Mail reports in its Thursday edition that Algoma Steel Group's losses ballooned in the fourth quarter as U.S. President Donald Trump's continuing trade war battered Canada's last remaining independent steelmaker. The Globe's Niall McGee writes that Algoma on Wednesday evening posted a net loss of $364.7-million for the quarter ending Dec. 31, compared with a loss of $66.5-million during the same period last year. The company's steel shipments fell by 31 per cent to 378,533 tonnes. Algoma incurred $60.6-million in tariff costs in the quarter. Since March of last year, Algoma has been dealing with tariffs in the U.S. market. Mr. Trump first imposed a 25-per-cent levy, but then doubled the duty to 50 per cent in June. That essentially shut Algoma and other Canadian producers out of the U.S. market. Before the trade war began, the U.S. used to account for about 60 per cent of Algoma's revenue. In response to the trade war, Algoma last year made the decision to accelerate by one year the rollout of its electric arc furnace technology. The first of those two EAFs went into production in July. In December, Algoma issued layoffs to 1,005 of its unionized workers as a result of the early transition to EAFs.