Prime Minister Justin Trudeau warned to the United States vice president, JD Vance, to punish tariffs for steel and Canadian aluminum will hurt his native state Ohio, said a senior Canadian official.
The two leaders gathered outside an international summit in Paris, as the Trump administration advances with its threat of imposing 25 percent tariffs on all imports of steel and aluminum, including its largest supplier, Canada, from of March 12.
“Tariffs on steel and Canadian aluminum would be completely unjustified,” Trudeau told journalists at the summit. “We are the [U.S.’s] closest ally. Our economies are integrated. “
Trump said Monday that the rates would be imposed on steel and aluminum of all the “without exceptions or exemptions.”
The Federal Government will work with the Trump administration in the coming weeks, Trudeau said, to make sure that he understands the impact that taxes would have both in the United States and Canada.
When CBC News asked him if it would correspond to aluminum and steel matching tariffs, Trudeau said he hopes that does not have to happen.
“If it’s that, our answer, of course, will be firm and clear. We will defend Canadian workers. We will defend the Canadian industries.”
Look | Tariffs on Canadian steel, aluminum ‘completely unjustified’, says Prime Minister, says
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says that Canada will work with the US. In the coming weeks to highlight the negative impacts of “unacceptable” rates of 25 percent for both Canadians and in the Americans. “If it’s about that, our answer, of course, will be firm and clear.”
Trump promises to relive the creation of American steel in the states of the oxide strap, including Ohio, to bring more industrial manufacturing jobs.
Trudeau mentioned the impact of tariffs on Ohio to Vance, said a Canadian official. The State is the largest exporter in the United States that sends more than $ 21 billion in the United States in goods to Canada in 2023, according to the United States commercial representative. If Canada retaliates, its exports of steel, cars, plastics, iron and plane could be affected with contrary rates.
The prime minister did not announce specific retaliation measures on Tuesday, but his government warned that a commercial war could increase consumer prices and damage the economy south of the border.
LOOK/ Trump imposes 25% of the rate for all steel imports, aluminum
The president of the United States, Donald Trump, has signed two executive orders that impose 25 percent tariffs on all imports of steel and aluminum without exception, a movement that Canadian officials called “unjustified” while preparing their reprisals.
The prime minister made his comments in Paris, on his way to the AI action summit organized by French president Emmanuel Macron and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Vance did not answer the questions of the Canadian media about the rates while arriving at the summit on Tuesday.
The Prime Minister said he is also working with international leaders to coordinate an answer and will travel to Brussels on Wednesday to meet with the leaders of the European Union and the NATO general secretary Mark Rutte.
The Quebec aluminum industry feels a bit of Déjà Vu. During his first term, the president of the United States, Donald Trump, slapped 25 percent in overcoming steel imports and 10 percent in aluminum. This time, both will be subject to the 25 percent rate.
