Trudeau says U.S. steel, tariffs on national security grounds are insulting
OTTAWA Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says it is “insulting” that President Donald Trump says Canada’s steel industry poses a national security risk to the United States.
Speaking on NBC’s Sunday morning news show Meet the Press, Trudeau said he wants to make sure Americans, and more specifically Trump supporters, hear the message that they are going to feel financial strain and pain from the steel tariffs Trump imposed on Canada last week.
“The fact that the president has moved forward with these tariffs is not just going to hurt Canadian jobs, it’s going to hurt U.S. jobs as well and neither of those things is something Canada wants to see,” Trudeau said.
Trump imposed 25 per cent import duties on steel and 10 per cent on aluminum in early March, citing national security concerns about the impact those imported products were having on the American domestic industries. He exempted Canada, Mexico and the European Union pending additional talks to ease U.S. concerns.
On Thursday the White House said the exemptions were being lifted because no satisfactory arrangement had been reached.
But, Trudeau said, the idea the Americans would even muse about the idea that its closest friend and ally could be a security threat is ridiculous.
“The idea that Canadian steel that’s in military vehicles in the United States, that makes your fighter jets is somehow now a threat ... the idea that we are somehow a national security threat to the United States is quite frankly insulting and unacceptable,” Trudeau said.
In the reports from the U.S. Department of Commerce on the steel and aluminum national security investigations, the American concerns have little to do with fears that Canada or Canadian steel directly pose a threat. Instead, they argue, the increase in foreign imports has shut down U.S. steel and aluminum plants, leaving the U.S. industry at risk of becoming unsustainable.
If the U.S. cannot produce enough steel or aluminum to meet basic national defence requirements, the reports suggest, it is a national security threat.
The documents also discuss concerns the impact on national security from economic threats and unemployment. They cite a 35 per cent drop in steel industry jobs in America over the last 20 years as foreign steel displaced U.S. production and a 58 per cent drop in aluminum production jobs between 2013 and 2016.
Trudeau added that he does not know what Trump wants Canada to do in order to remove the tariffs, because the U.S. actually exports more steel to Canada than Canada sends to the U.S., and when it comes to oversupply from China, Canada is on the same page as Trump.
Canada recently instigated an antidumping investigation on Chinese steel, and in March introduced greater powers for Canada customs agents to search for steel products attempting to dodge duties with various measures like incorrect labelling or slight modifications.