Canada dodges tariff bullet, at least for now

Americans grant us provisional exemption

WASHINGTON — Canada appears to have dodged a protectionist bullet, as one of only two countries to receive a provisional exemption from steel and aluminum tariffs set to rip into America’s trading relationships around the globe.

President Donald Trump signed proclamations Thursday slapping U.S. tariffs of 25 per cent on steel and 10 per cent on aluminum from almost every country, with penalties coming into effect in 15 days.

After months of frantic lobbying, diplomatic arm-twisting and heated debates within his own administration, Trump made good on his tariff threat at the White House, surrounded by steelworkers.

The only two countries escaping tariffs were America’s neighbours: Canada and Mexico.

It’s not impossible they could be added later, but the president’s own language, the wording of the proclamations and comments from a White House official all went out of their way to avoid any explicit threats against Canada and Mexico, leaving dangling only the vague possibility.

Trump danced around the question of whether the tariff threat will be used to bully Canada and Mexico at the NAFTA bargaining table. He said only that the reprieve remains in place for now and that NAFTA is important to economic and national security.

“Due to the unique nature of our relationship with Canada and Mexico ... we’re gonna hold off the tariff for those two countries,” Trump said during a signing ceremony. “If we don’t make the deal on NAFTA, and if we terminate NAFTA ... we’ll start all over again. Or we’ll just do it a different way. But we’ll terminate NAFTA, and that’ll be it. But I have a feeling we’re gonna make a deal on NAFTA . ... If we do there won’t be any tariffs on Canada, and there won’t be any tariffs on Mexico.”

The actual formal documents specifically state Canada and Mexico are a special case, given the continent’s shared commitment to mutual security, an integrated defence industry.