'WHERE'S THE DEAL:' Tories demand answers from Carney about tariffs
As Min. Leblanc met with U.S. officials over trade, the Trump White House increased steel and aluminum tariffs from 25% to 50% Tuesday
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OTTAWA — Why is Canada’s being left behind?
That was the Conservatives’ question for Prime Minister Mark Carney, as U.S. President Donald Trump’s latest hike to steel and aluminum imports fuelled question period on Wednesday.
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“Let’s be clear, Trump’s tariffs on Canada are wrong, unjustified and an attack on our workers and economy,” Opposition leader Andrew Scheer said in the House of Commons.
“While other countries have got deals to lower their tariffs, not only has the PM failed to do that, but he got Canada’s tariffs doubled on steel and aluminum. He promised he was the man with the plan, but he can’t even get a deal.”
Trump hiked tariffs in incoming steel and aluminum from 25% to 50% on Tuesday, a decision made while Canada-U.S. Trade Minister Dominic LeBlanc was trying to hammer out a deal with U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick in Washington.
“(Carney) promised that he’d collect $20 billion in retaliatory tariffs, but then secretly dropped those tariffs to zero during the campaign,” Scheer continued.
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“If he’s so sure that he’s going to collect $20 billion, why not table a budget and prove it to Canadians?”
In response, Carney repeated comments he made to reporters before attending Wednesday morning’s caucus meeting — agreeing with Scheer that that Trump’s new tariffs were neither legal nor fair.
“That is why we have retaliatory tariffs on over $90 billion worth of U.S. goods,” Carney said, to shouts of “prove it” from across the aisle.
“We are in intensive negotiations with the Americans and in parallel preparing reprisals if those negotiations do not succeed.”
bpassifiume@postmedia.com
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