WASHINGTON: The United States and Canada traded angry tariff warnings Tuesday (Mar 11), as trade tensions soared and President Donald Trump doubled down on provocative plans to annex his country’s northern neighbor.
Despite a compromise arising after a day of threats and counter-threats, Canada and other US trading partners will still be hit at midnight by a blanket 25 per cent levy imposed on all steel and aluminium imports.
The move comes with “no exceptions or exemptions”, a White House spokesperson told AFP.
The steel and aluminium levies threaten to affect everything from electronics to vehicles and construction equipment – and have manufacturers scrambling to find cost-effective domestic suppliers.
Early Tuesday, Trump threatened to double the rate on imports of both metals from Canada, after its province of Ontario imposed an electricity surcharge on three US states.
Canadian Prime Minister-elect Mark Carney, in turn, vowed that his incoming administration would hit back with “maximum impact”.
But Ontario has since halted the surcharge after talks with Washington.
Wall Street stocks slumped for a second straight day after major indexes fluctuated over Trump’s tariff threats.
Ontario Premier Doug Ford, US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer are set to meet in Washington Thursday “to discuss a renewed USMCA ahead of the Apr 2 reciprocal tariff deadline”, according to a US-Canada joint statement.
This refers to a North American trade pact that also includes Mexico.
Canada, historically among the closest US allies, had been facing aggressive rhetoric and found itself the target of Trump’s ire on trade – alongside unprecedented questioning of and threats to its sovereignty.
Canada supplies half of US aluminium imports and 20 per cent of US steel imports, says industry consultant EY-Parthenon.
ELECTRICITY, AUTOS
On Tuesday, Trump said on Truth Social that if Canada uses electricity as a bargaining chip “they will pay a financial price for this so big that it will be read about in History Books for many years to come!”
He also threatened to boost tariffs on cars from Apr 2, saying this would “essentially, permanently shut down the automobile manufacturing business in Canada.”
Trump has vowed reciprocal levies as soon as Apr 2 to remedy trade practices Washington deems unfair, raising the potential for more products and trading partners to be specifically targeted.
Reacting to Trump’s announcement on MSNBC, Ontario Premier Doug Ford said the US president made “an unprovoked attack on our country, on families, on jobs”.
