U.S. IMPOSING TARIFFS ON CANADA, MEXICO
The Trump administration is making good on its threat to slap Canada with hefty steel and aluminum tariffs, setting the stage for a possible trade war and leaving Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in the middle of a very divided group of leaders at next week’s G7 summit.
Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross announced Thursday that the United States will end the temporary exemption on Canadian, Mexican and European Union steel and aluminum as of midnight, as scheduled.
That means that President Donald Trump will be facing a group of leaders who will likely have taken retaliatory action against the United States when he makes his closely watched Canadian debut at the G7 next week in Quebec.
While the tariffs have had “major, positive effects’’ on industry jobs and workers, “the Trump Administration’s actions underscore its commitment to good-faith negotiations with our allies to enhance our national security while supporting American workers,’’ the White House said in a statement.
Prior to the announcement, a senior Canadian official, speaking on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the situation, confirmed Canada has prepared a list of U.S. products that might face retaliatory tariffs, but declined to give further details.
Canada, Mexico and Europe
had been exempted until June 1 from import duties of 25 per cent on steel and 10 per cent on aluminum when they were first imposed in March. Barring an 11th-hour reprieve, those exemptions will expire as scheduled.
During a conference call early Thursday, Ross shrugged off questions about the U.S. facing possible retaliation, or whether the move would negatively affect the G7 meeting. And he said that while he
was looking forward to continuing negotiations, the U.S. is making its decision on national security grounds — a justification Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland has dismissed as absurd.
In the case of Canada and Mexico, Ross said the decision was based on a lack of progress in the ongoing talks to update the North American Free Trade Agreement.
“As to Canada, Mexico, you will recall that the reason for
the deferral had been pending the outcome of the NAFTA talks,’’ he said.
“Those talks are taking longer than we had hoped. There is no longer a very precise date when they may be concluded’’ so they were added to the tariff list, he said.
If Canada and Mexico choose to take retaliatory measures, it will not affect the ability to keep renegotiating NAFTA as a separate track, he added.