U.S. relationship with allies sours over tariffs
WASHINGTON—Already under fire for his combative trade policies, President Donald Trump on Friday intensified pressure on Canada, demanding that America’s neighbor and close ally “open their markets and take down trade barriers.”
Trump’s morning tweet came a day after he ignited global condemnation by imposing tariffs on steel and aluminum imports from Canada and two other key U.S. allies — the European Union and Mexico.
Later in the afternoon, Trump told reporters he wouldn’t mind seeing the North American Free Trade Agreement replaced by two separate, bilateral trade deals with Canada and Mexico.
Trump said of America’s neighbors: “these are two very different countries.”
He said NAFTA has been “a very lousy deal” for the U.S. and says, “they’re our allies but they take advan- tage of us economically.”
The pre s i dent took to Twitter Friday to accuse Canada of treating U.S. “farmers very poorly for a long period of time.” And he repeated his inaccurate claim that Canada runs a trade surplus with the United States. In fact, U.S. Commerce Department numbers show, the United States recorded a trade surplus with Canada for each of the past three years.
Trump’s antagonistic trade policies — and specifically the steel and aluminum tariffs — drew international denunciation. French President Emmanuel Macron said Friday that he told Trump in a phone call that the new U.S. tariffs on European, Mexican and Canadian goods were illegal and a “mistake.”
And Macron pledged the retaliation would be “firm” and “proportionate” and in line with World Trade Organization rules.
Germany’s Volkswagen, Europe’s largest automaker, warned that the decision could start a trade war that no side would win.
The European Union and China said they will deepen ties on trade and investment as a result.
“This is stupid—it’ s counter productive ,” Francis Maude, a former British trade minister, told the BBC.
The tariffs his adminis- tration has imposed — 25 percent on imported steel, 10 percent on aluminum from Canada, Mexico and the European Union — threaten to drive up prices for American consumers and companies and heighten uncer- tainty for businesses and investors around the globe.
Mexico complained the tariffs will “distort international trade” and said it will penalize U.S. imports including pork, apples, grapes, cheeses and flat steel.
In Canada, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said the tariffs were“totally unacceptable ,” and Canada announced plans to slap tariffs on $12.8 billion worth of U.S. products, ranging from steel to yogurt and toilet paper.
“Canada is a secure supplier of aluminum and steel to the U.S. defense industry, putting aluminum in American planes and steel in American tanks,” Trudeau said. “That Canada could be considered a national security threat to the United States is inconceivable.”
Trump had originally imposed the tariffs in March, saying a reliance on imported metals threatened national security. But he exempted Canada, Mexico and the European Union to buy time for negotiations — a reprieve that expired at midnight Thursday.
Other countries, including Japan, America’s closest ally in Asia, are already paying the tariffs.
“This is protectionism, pure and simple,” said Jean-Claude Juncker, president of the European Commission.