Cleveland-Cliffs confirmed Tuesday it will lay off 600 workers at its Dearborn Works plant as part of plans to temporarily idle parts of the facility, a decision the steel producer says was driven by weak automotive production in the United States.

Citing what it calls the "current reality of weak automotive production in the United States," steelmaker Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. plans a temporary idling of some operations at its Dearborn, Michigan, plant, resulting in the layoff of about 600 employees this summer.