Prime Minister Justin Trudeau stopped in Barrie today to talk about his government’s budget, but questions over a potential steel tariff lingered over his visit.

Trudeau met with nine students in a roundtable-style meeting at Georgian College. The meeting was to highlight the pay equity policy that was in his government’s 2018 budget.

The policy is aimed at closing the wage gap and would ensure men and women get paid equally for the same job. Currently, if a woman feels she isn’t making equal pay they have to file a complaint in order for change to happen.

“We look at jobs that are predominately done by women, compare them top other jobs of similar value that are predominately done by men, and if there’s a discrepancy there, which all too often there is, we make adjustments so that on average women are making the same,” Trudeau told the group.

Victoria Kovatchev, a student in the civil engineering and technology program, was one of the people involved in the roundtable. She’s a former military member, who says she knows what it’s like to work in a male dominated profession.

“We’re all the same and should be treated so. Our job and our pay should be reflected on our skill set and knowledge, and not on anything else,” she says.  

But following his meeting with students, the prime minister was questioned about the threat of a tariff being added to steel by the United States.

“The level of co-operation and integration of our militaries, our defence of North America and our working together on a broad range of security issues means that it just makes no sense to highlight that Canada and Canadian steel or aluminum might be a security threat to the United States,” Trudeau told reporters.

President Donald Trump said on Thursday that he plans to announce a 25 per cent tariff on steel and a 10 per cent tariff on aluminum that would go into effect next week. It remains unclear whether Trump will exempt Canada, which is the largest steel and aluminum exporter to the U.S.

"The United States has a $2-billion surplus on steel with us, so we regard the imposition of any new tariffs or any tariffs on steel or aluminum between our two countries as absolutely unacceptable," Trudeau said.

Trudeau said he has spoken with Trump numerous times to press Canada's case about the potential impact of trade-limiting tariffs and will continue to do so, but it wasn't immediately clear how recently the two leaders had spoken.

With files from The Canadian Press.