Toronto/CMEDIA: New measures reportedly to help stabilize Canada’s steel and aluminum sectors which were hard hit by U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariffs were announced Thursday by Canada’s Prime Minister Mark Carney.
In the event of failure of Canada and the U.S. to reach a trade deal in a month’s time, Canada’s new program would include a quota on foreign steel and a proposed tax hike on U.S. imports.
Canada’s counter-tariffs on U.S. steel and aluminum products would either go up or down, Carney said depending on the negotiations with Trump on July 21.
Earlier this month Trump hiked the U.S. tariff rate on steel and aluminum from 25 percent to 50 percent.
Focusing on the steel and aluminum industries in Canada, Carney laid out on Thursday new trade war countermeasures. Included in these measures was a commitment to adjust counter-tariffs on July 21 depending on how trade talks with Washington progress.
Both Carney and Trump agreed at the G7 summit in Alberta this week to try and reach some sort of trade deal within 30 days.
Carney said that he’s willing to go higher with Canada’s retaliatory tariffs if a deal doesn’t come together.
The Canadian tariffs on U.S. steel and aluminum imports, Carney added, will be set at a rate that’s “consistent with the progress that’s made…will review our response as the negotiations progress.”
Carney added that the starting point of these negotiations would be if Trump does away with all of his “unjust” trade actions.
Carney said he’s establishing a new “tariff rate quota,” which allows some foreign steel imports but anything above that limit will be hit with a high tariff, making them more expensive.
This measure would facilitate Canadian steel to become a more competitive industry that has lost a lot of its U.S. business amid Trump’s punishing tariffs.
The program would induce Canadian companies to make foreign imports price prohibitive and to use domestic steel.
“We must reinforce our strength at home and safeguard Canadian workers and businesses from the unjust U.S. tariffs that exist at present,” Carney told reporters on Parliament Hill.
To this Trump said he and Carney have different concepts around trade and reiterated his support for tariffs, saying: ‘It’s simple, it’s easy, it’s precise.’ Noting that Carney has ‘a more complex idea,’ Trump said, ‘we’re going to look at both.’
In the meantime, additional tariff measures are being considered by Carney in the coming days to keep more foreign steel out and address what he called “persistent global overcapacity and unfair trade.”
Canada’s push to get major infrastructure, said Carney, and natural resources projects built quickly will also help the struggling steel sector.
Carney’s cabinet’s ability to fast-track approvals for “nation-building” projects many of which require huge quantities of steel and aluminum during construction would be enabled by a pending government bill before Parliament, C-5.
“We, as Canadians, can give ourselves far more than the Americans can ever take away. Steel and aluminum workers are on the front lines of this trade war. These workers will help us build one, strong Canadian economy, the strongest economy in the G7,” Carney said.
