According to reports, Trump is expected to sign an executive order on Monday or Tuesday imposing a 25% tariff increase upon existing duties on all steel and aluminum imports into the US. The largest sources of steel imports to the US are Brazil, Canada, and Mexico, followed by South Korea and Vietnam. Some analysis suggests that a primary target of these tariffs is the US’s longtime trade nemesis China, which does not ship very much steel and aluminum directly to the US, but has increasingly entered the global steel and aluminum market with lower cost exports to US neighbors including Canada and Mexico—upsetting US industry.
Last week, Trump’s administration hit China with a 10% additional tariff on all Chinese imports. China retaliated with its own tariff against US goods, set to kick in today. These tariffs range from 10% to 15% and will apply to crude oil, natural gas, farm machinery and other commodities from the US.
Canadian officials have criticized Trump’s latest round of tariffs, with Industry Minister François-Philippe Champagne writing on social media that his country’s aluminum and steel imports “support key industries in the US from defence, shipbuilding and auto.”
“We will continue to stand up for Canada, our workers, and our industries,” Champagne wrote.
Jagmeet Singh, leader of the left-wing Canadian New Democratic Party, said in response to Trump’s latest tariff threat that Trump’s goal is “making Canada the 51st state.”
“He wants to use economic pressure on Canada to put us in a weak position… so we need to fight back,” Singh said.
