Canada announces retaliatory measures on U.S. steel, aluminum tariffs

Article content

OTTAWA – Canada will be rolling out a new series of measures to combat U.S. tariffs placed on Canadian steel and aluminum.

During a Thursday afternoon Parliament Hill press conference, Prime Minister Mark Carney announced Canada will, among other measures, adjust existing counter-tariffs on U.S. steel and aluminum on July 21, consistent with where trade negotiations are at that point.

“On Monday morning, I with colleagues met with President Trump to discuss international priorities as part of the G7, but also to further negotiate a new economic and security partnership between Canada and the United States,” Carney told reporters.

“We’ve said repeatedly, we’ll take the time we need to get the best deal for Canada, but no longer – and seeing progress that’s been made, President Trump and I agreed to pursue negotiations toward a deal within the coming 30 days.”

The negotiations, he said, will continue in good faith – but said it’s important to Canada to reinforce its strength at home and protect Canadian jobs and industry from the unjust U.S. tariffs.

Canada will also, effective the end of this month, limit access to government procurement to Canadian suppliers – part of the government’s pledge earlier this year to maximize the use of Canadian steel and aluminum for federally-funded projects.

Thirdly, Canada will establish a new retroactive 100% tariff on steel imports through non-free trade partners, a means to stabilize the Canadian steel market.

The fourth measure will involve new tariffs meant to protect Canadian aluminum producers, as well as strike two new government-stakeholder task forces – one for the steel industry and the other for aluminum.

The announcement came as delegations from Canada’s steel industry were on Parliament Hill to make their case for extra measures.

RECOMMENDED VIDEO

We apologize, but this video has failed to load.

Try refreshing your browser, or
tap here to see other videos from our team.

Play Video

The Canadian Steel Producers Association and the United Steel Workers were set to jointly host a press conference later Thursday afternoon, but that avail was abruptly cancelled shortly after Carney’s announcement.

Canada has been under increasing pressure after President Trump doubled steel and aluminum import tariffs earlier this year from the 25% established in March to 50% – bad news for Ontario’s steel industry and Quebec’s world-class aluminum production.

Carney said he’ll meet with provincial and territorial premiers on Friday to coordinate further response, and the topic will be discussed next week in Belgium during the Canada-EU summit, and later in the week at the NATO summit in The Hague.

bpassifiume@postmedia.com

@bryanpassifiume