HAMILTON, Ont. — The Canadian steel industry is the latest manufacturing sector to get slapped with blowback from the eroding U.S. economy.

America’s largest steel maker, U.S. Steel, announced late Tuesday that it is "temporarily" idling two Ontario operations in Hamilton and Nanticoke, Ont.

Operations at Hamilton Works in Hamilton and a facility near Nanticoke, Ont. will be suspended over the next few weeks. About 1,500 furloughed workers will join another 700 let go last year.

Area suppliers and truckers who service the plants and its customers will also be affected.

Some Steeltown truckers will be reeling after
two Hamilton plant closures were announced this week.

The two plants (formerly known as Stelco before being acquired by U.S. Steel in 2007) survived the Great Depression, but now their future is questionable.

The company couldn’t say when they’ll reopen the facilities again.

"The difficult decision to continue to temporarily consolidate our production, we believe, is a necessary response to current market conditions," U.S. Steel’s chairman and chief executive, John Surma, said in a statement.

The Pittsburgh-based company says only its Coking operations at Lake Erie Works will continue.

U.S. Steel blames ever-softening demand in both Canada and the U.S., as markets that require steel such as auto manufacturing, construction, and housing continue their plunge.

Most North American steelmakers are reportedly operating at less than 50 percent capacity.

Last month, the Obama Administration advanced an $800 billion-plus "stimulus" package, which includes a ‘Buy American’ provision that restricts imported steel into the U.S.

It’s believed, however, U.S. Steel’s decision is market-driven and completely independent of any protectionist overtones in the U.S. bailout bill.