Canada initiates WTO dispute complaint on US steel, aluminium duties #CanadaFinance

BERLIN (Reuters) -Canada has requested WTO dispute consultations with the U.S. over its imposition of import duties on certain steel and aluminium products from Canada, the trade body said on Thursday.

The request was circulated to World Trade Organization members on Thursday, it said.

Canada says the measures, which end Canada’s exemption from additional duties on some steel and aluminium products and increase duties on aluminium articles and which took effect on Wednesday, are inconsistent with U.S. obligations under the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) 1994, the WTO said in a statement.

U.S. President Donald Trump, speaking to reporters in the Oval Office on Thursday, suggested he was not going to change his mind on tariffs.

“We’ve been ripped off for years and we’re not going to be ripped off anymore. I’m not going to bend at all, aluminium or steel or cars,” he said.

The move follows a separate request by Canada on March 5 for consultations with the United States after Trump’s new 25% tariffs on imports from Canada and Mexico took effect, along with new duties on Chinese goods.

Trump has declared that the top three U.S. trading partners had failed to do enough to stem the flow of fentanyl and its precursor chemicals into the United States.

(Reporting by Madeline Chambers, additional reporting by Olivia Le Poidevin editing by Thomas Seythal; Editing by Angus MacSwan)