‘We will not back down’: Canada hits back at US’ aluminum tariff with $3.6 billion in countermeasures
“In imposing these tariffs the United States has taken the absurd decision to harm its own people at a time when its economy is suffering the deepest crisis since the Great Depression,”
7 Aug, 2020
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Canada’s Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland has announced retaliatory tariffs on $3.6 billion worth of US aluminum, to be put in place in September after industry consultations.
“We will not back down,” Freeland said during the Friday announcement.
The tariffs, which will be in place by September 16, come in response to the US government imposing a ten percent tariff on raw aluminum coming in from Canada. That tariff will be in place on August 16.
President Donald Trump celebrated the tariffs during a trip to Ohio on Thursday where he claimed the country was “taking advantage of us, as usual.”
He went on to say Canada has flooded American markets with exports and “decimated” the American aluminum industry.
ALSO ON RT.COM Canada vows ‘dollar-for-dollar’ retaliation after Trump reimposes 10% tariffs on aluminum
Freeland began preparing countermeasures immediately and called the US tariffs “unfair, unwarranted, and unnecessary.” She blasted President Trump for imposing the tariffs in the middle of the Covid-19 pandemic when many economies and industries are suffering.
“In imposing these tariffs the United States has taken the absurd decision to harm its own people at a time when its economy is suffering the deepest crisis since the Great Depression,” she said.
Freeland began preparing countermeasures immediately and called the US tariffs “unfair, unwarranted, and unnecessary.” She blasted President Trump for imposing the tariffs in the middle of the Covid-19 pandemic when many economies and industries are suffering.
“In imposing these tariffs the United States has taken the absurd decision to harm its own people at a time when its economy is suffering the deepest crisis since the Great Depression,” she said.
“In imposing these tariffs the United States has taken the absurd decision to harm its own people at a time when its economy is suffering the deepest crisis since the Great Depression,” said Deputy Prime Minister @cafreeland.
Read more: https://t.co/SZcr8H9Ephpic.twitter.com/81xhcrRt2H— Power & Politics (@PnPCBC) August 7, 2020
Ontario Premier Doug Ford — who has supported the US president in the past, including during a trip to DC earlier in the year where he said he hopes November’s election goes “the right way. Literally, the right way” — also blasted Trump for the economic tariffs and said he encouraged Freeland to impose as many tariffs on US goods as she could.
“We buy more goods off the United States than China, Japan, [the] UK combined. Who does this? At times like this, who tries to go after your closest ally? Your closest trading partner? Your number one customer in the entire world? Who would do this? President Trump did this, and I encouraged the deputy prime minister to put retaliatory tariffs on as many goods as possible,” Ford said.
The US and Canada have gotten into tariff wars before. Trump imposed tariffs on steel and aluminum from the country in 2018, and Canada responded by imposing tariffs on various US products.
Ontario Premier Doug Ford — who has supported the US president in the past, including during a trip to DC earlier in the year where he said he hopes November’s election goes “the right way. Literally, the right way” — also blasted Trump for the economic tariffs and said he encouraged Freeland to impose as many tariffs on US goods as she could.
“We buy more goods off the United States than China, Japan, [the] UK combined. Who does this? At times like this, who tries to go after your closest ally? Your closest trading partner? Your number one customer in the entire world? Who would do this? President Trump did this, and I encouraged the deputy prime minister to put retaliatory tariffs on as many goods as possible,” Ford said.
The US and Canada have gotten into tariff wars before. Trump imposed tariffs on steel and aluminum from the country in 2018, and Canada responded by imposing tariffs on various US products.
Trump says he is reimposing the tariffs because Canada has not kept to their “commitment” to not “flood” the country with products and “kill all our aluminum jobs.”
“Several months ago, my administration agreed to lift those tariffs in return for a promise from the Canadian government that its aluminum industry would not flood our country with exports and kill all our aluminum jobs, which is exactly what they’ve done,” Trump said. “Canadian aluminum producers have broken their commitment.”
Canada to retaliate against U.S. aluminum tariffs: Deputy PM Freeland
Posted on August 6, 2020
By Chris Prentice
Canada's Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland attends a news conference as efforts continue to help slow the spread of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Ottawa
OTTAWA (Reuters) – Canada will impose retaliatory tariffs in response to U.S. President Donald Trump’s move on Thursday to reimpose 10% tariffs on some Canadian aluminum products, Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland said in a statement.
“In response to the American tariffs, Canada intends to swiftly impose dollar-for-dollar countermeasures,” Freeland said, calling the tariffs “unwarranted and unacceptable.”
Trump announced the punitive measures earlier on Thursday to protect U.S. industry from a “surge” in imports, drawing ire from Ottawa and some U.S. business groups.
(Reporting by Julie Gordon in Ottawa; Editing by Tom Hogue)
Trump reimposes US tariffs on raw Canadian aluminium
Canada promises to retaliate just weeks after regional free trade deal came into effect.
07 Aug 2020
Canada has a natural advantage in primary aluminium production because of its ample supply of hydroelectric power [File: Shannon VanRaes/Bloomberg]
United States President Donald Trump moved to reimpose 10 percent tariffs on some Canadian aluminium products to protect US industry from a "surge" in imports, angering Ottawa and some US business groups.
Canada pledged retaliation as tensions between the close allies rose just weeks after a new continental trade deal between the US, Mexico and Canada came into effect.
During a speech at a Whirlpool Corp washing machine factory in Ohio to tout his "America First" trade agenda, Trump said he signed a proclamation reimposing the "Section 232" national security tariffs. The step was "absolutely necessary to defend our aluminium industry", he said.
Ohio is a critical swing state that Trump won in 2016. Polling shows a tight race with Democrat Joe Biden in the state ahead of this year's November 3 presidential election.
Trump trails the former vice president in national polls and is competing with him for blue-collar, working-class voters. The tariff announcement could be aimed at showing those voters he intends to fight for their jobs and upend trade policy further if he remains in office.
But some prominent business groups criticised the move as counterproductive and unhelpful to US interests.
The US Trade Representative's office said the 10 percent tariffs apply to raw, unalloyed aluminium produced at smelters. The tariffs do not apply to downstream aluminium products.
"Several months ago, my administration agreed to lift those tariffs in return for a promise from the Canadian government that its aluminium industry would not flood our country with exports and kill all our aluminium jobs, which is exactly what they've done," Trump said. "Canadian aluminium producers have broken their commitment."
Canada has a natural advantage in primary aluminium production because of its ample supply of hydroelectric power.
Canadian Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland said the tariffs would hurt workers and regional economies already hit by the coronavirus pandemic and pledged Ottawa would retaliate as it had done in 2018, when Trump first imposed punitive measures on Canadian steel and aluminium.
"In response to the American tariffs, Canada intends to swiftly impose dollar-for-dollar countermeasures," Freeland said in a statement.
Freeland - in overall charge of relations with the United States - will formally respond to the tariffs at 11am (15:00 GMT) on Friday, her office said in a statement.
In 2018, Canada slapped tariffs on 16.6 billion Canadian dollars ($12.4bn) worth of US goods ranging from bourbon to ketchup. Trump lifted the sanctions in 2019.
'Depression time'
Trump peppered his remarks with criticism of Biden and predicted "depression time" if the Democrat won - plus higher taxes and more regulations.
"To be a strong nation, America must be a manufacturing nation and not be led by a bunch of fools. That means protecting our national industrial base," Trump said.
Trump has sparred with close US allies over trade throughout his presidency.
The US Chamber of Commerce called the move "a step in the wrong direction" that would raise costs on companies and consumers.
The Aluminum Association, which says it represents companies that produce 70 percent of the aluminium and aluminium products shipped in North America, said the move undermined the new US-Mexico-Canada trade agreement at a time when year-to-date domestic demand was already down nearly 25 percent.
Michael Bless, chief executive of Century Aluminum, which is one of the few remaining US primary aluminium smelting companies and which lobbied for the tariffs, said the move "helps to secure continued domestic production of this vital strategic material".
SOURCE: REUTERS NEWS
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