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OTTAWA — U.S. President Donald Trump said he will formally announce 25 per cent tariffs on all steel and aluminum imports on Monday, including for Canada and Mexico.
Trump made the comments at a news conference aboard Air Force One as he travelled to New Orleans to watch the Super Bowl between the Kansas City Chiefs and Philadelphia Eagles.
Trump imposed steel and aluminum tariffs at 25 and 10 per cent respectively during his first term in March 2018 using national security as justification.
Canada was initially given an exemption to those duties, but was ultimately hit by the tariffs on May 31, 2018. Canada responded with a series of counter-tariffs on American products like Florida orange juice.
Nearly a year later, on May 17, 2019, the White House announced a deal had been reached to prevent “surges” in steel and aluminum supplies from Canada and Mexico, ending the trade dispute.
In reaction to Trump’s announcement Sunday, Industry Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne posted on social media platform X, saying Canadian steel and aluminum support critical industries in the U.S. including defence, shipbuilding and auto manufacturing.
He said the existing trade relationship between Canada and the U.S. makes North America “more competitive and secure,” and that the government will continue to stand up for Canada, its workers and its industries.
Catherine Cobden, president and CEO of the Canadian Steel Producers Association, said in a statement her group is “deeply concerned” about tariffs on steel and aluminum.
“When President Trump implemented tariffs on Canadian steel in 2018, we saw massive disruptions and harm on both sides of the border, hurting both America and Canada,” Cobden’s statement said before asking the federal government to intervene immediately with retaliatory tariffs.
Fox News aired a partial interview with Trump ahead of Sunday’s football game, where he said he wants to see Canada become a state due to the unsubstantiated claim that the U.S. is “paying $200 billion a year” to its northern neighbour.
Trump said Canada would be “much better off” as a state, and said he’d be fine with “subsidizing” Canada if it was a state, an apparent reference to the U.S. trade deficit with Canada.
Statistics Canada says Canada’s overall trade surplus with the U.S. was $94.4 billion in 2023, primarily due to oil exports.
Trump made the statehood comment in response to a question from Fox News anchor Bret Baier, who asked about Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s comments last week to a group of business leaders claiming Trump is not joking about making Canada a state.
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