The president of the United States, Donald Trump, signed an executive order on Tuesday duplicating tariffs on 50 percent steel and aluminum imports, a movement that an official of the Canadian industry warned would have “unrecoverable consequences.”
The new rate will enter into force at midnight, according to the order.
“Although steel and aluminum tariffs have previously taxed have helped provide critical pricing support in the United States market, they have not yet allowed these industries to develop and maintain the rates of use of capacity production that are necessary for the sustained health of industries and for the needs of projected national defense,” I read the order, which was published online after the closed world markets.
“I have determined that increasing the previously tax tariffs will provide greater support to these industries and will reduce or eliminate the national security threat raised by imports of steel and aluminum items.”
The measure deepens the threat against industries in the two largest provinces in Canada: Ontario as a steel production center and Quebec is an important global aluminum producer.
In a statement, Prime Minister Mark Carney’s office said that the United States had no legitimate reasons to double their tariffs.
“Additional tariffs on steel and Canadian aluminum announced today by the United States are illegal and unjustified,” I read.
He said that the government is going through “intensive and live negotiations” so that tariffs are eliminated as part of a new economic relationship with the United States. He also reiterated plans to eliminate interprovincial commercial barriers to strengthen the national economy as retailers and consumers seek to move away from US assets, a strategy that the prime minister has promised to carry out before July 1.
During the questions in Ottawa this week, the Minister of Industry, Mélanie Joly, said she had spoken with industry officials in both provinces about the need for Canada to spend on materials within her own borders.
“We will use Quebec and Canadian aluminum steel in our infrastructure projects,” Joly said in the house on Monday. “We will create and protect jobs and defend ourselves against this injustice of the White House.”
Catherine Cobden, director of the Canadian Association of Steel Producers, says the new threat of US President Donald Trump, double steel rates and 50 percent aluminum rates, ‘completely unjustified’ and Ottawa should quickly impose reprisal rates. Read more: https://www.cbc.ca/1.7548855
The head of the Canadian Association of Steel Producers (CSPA) said that on Saturday that tariffs increased “they would create massive interruptions and negative consequences” throughout the supply chain and would affect customers in both countries.
“This last announcement of the Trump administration is an additional blow to the Canadian steel that will have unrecoverable consequences,” reads a statement from the president and executive director of CSPA, Catherine Cobden.
The United States imposed 25 percent tariffs on the steel and aluminum of Canada on March 12. Almost immediately after the metal tax arrived, Ottawa announced a plan to retaliate with tariffs with US goods worth $ 29.8 billion.
Canada is the largest steel supplier in the United States, which represents almost a quarter of all its imports in 2023.
