National Post (National Edition)
Trump fiery on steel, lumber pact said close
Cites ‘dumping’ of foreign metal
OTTAWA • Donald Trump is promising to tax steel imports again less than a week after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said he believed Canada will escape expected steel tariffs imposed by the U.S.
Speaking to reporters as he flew to France, the U.S. president said there are two ways to address what he calls unacceptable dumping of foreign steel into the U.S. market — quotas and tariffs.
“Maybe I’ll do both,” he said, according to a transcript released by the White House Thursday. “Steel is a big problem. Steel is, I mean, they’re dumping steel. Not only China, but others. We’re like a dumping ground, OK?
“They’re dumping steel and destroying our steel industry, they’ve been doing it for decades, and I’m stopping it. It’ll stop.”
The comments came immediately after Trump spoke about the trade deficit the U.S. has with South Korea, the third-largest source of steel imports to the U.S.
But Canada is the biggest, accounting for 17 per cent of all steel imports last year.
Steel was one of the subjects discussed by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau with Trump on the sidelines of the G20 leaders’ summit in Germany last weekend. Trudeau told reporters after he was “comfortable” Canada would not be affected by any national security-related import tariffs on steel.
“The kind of back and forth complimentarity between Canada and the U.S. on steel is something we both value tremendously as countries and will ensure to protect,” Trudeau said July 8.
Meanwhile, on another key trade issue, the framework for a 10-year softwood lumber agreement between Canada and the U.S. could be reached in the coming weeks, says an industry analyst, citing discussions with unnamed trade contacts.
In a report released Thursday, Hamir Patel of CIBC World Markets said a deal setting quotas on Canadian softwood exports could be acceptable to the U.S. lumber industry if Canada drops several demands. That would include withdrawing a request that New Brunswick be excluded from any softwood agreement restrictions, Patel said.
“We now believe there is a greater than 50 per cent probability that the two sides could announce an agreed-upon framework by the end of August,” he wrote.
He said the U.S. Lumber Coalition could be encouraged by the Trump administration to sign a deal that would gradually reduce Canada’s share of the U.S. market to 27 to 28 per cent over several years from its 31.9 per cent share last year.
A spokesman for Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland declined to comment on “rumours until a deal is reached that is favourable to both sides.” The U.S. Lumber Coalition also said it wouldn’t comment on speculation.
On the steel issue, the U.S. Department of Commerce is weeks overdue to decide whether or not to slap new import duties on the basis of national security. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross was to have made the decision in June but as of Thursday, nothing had been finalized.