Prime Minister Mark Carney announced Thursday new measures to help stabilize Canada’s steel and aluminum sectors that have been hard hit by U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariffs — with exports down and job losses up.
The new federal program includes a quota on foreign steel and a proposed tax hike on U.S. imports if Canada and the U.S. can’t reach a trade deal in a month’s time.
Carney said Canada’s counter-tariffs on U.S. steel and aluminum products would go up — or down, depending on the negotiations with Trump — on July 21.
Trump hiked the U.S. tariff rate on steel and aluminum from 25 per cent to 50 per cent earlier this month and Carney, at the time, withheld matching that rate spike given talks are ongoing to get Canada out from under Trump’s tariffs.
Ottawa unveils new countermeasures for Canada’s steel, aluminum sectors amid U.S. trade war
The two leaders agreed at the G7 summit in Alberta this week to try and reach some sort of trade deal within 30 days. With today’s announcement, Carney is signalling he’s willing to go higher with Canada’s retaliatory tariffs if a deal doesn’t come together.
The Canadian tariffs on U.S. steel and aluminum imports will be set at a rate that’s “consistent with the progress that’s made,” Carney said. “We will review our response as the negotiations progress.”
Asked by a reporter if he’s willing to accept any U.S. tariffs on Canadian goods — Trump reiterated again this week he’s a “tariffs person” and didn’t seem willing to budge — Carney said the government’s position is that Trump should do away with all of his “unjust” trade actions and that’s the starting point of these negotiations.
Carney said he’s establishing a new “tariff rate quota,” as it’s called in trade parlance, which means some foreign steel imports will be allowed but anything above that limit will be hit with a high tariff, making them more expensive.
The purpose of this measure is to make Canadian steel more competitive and prop up an industry that has lost a lot of its U.S. business amid Trump’s punishing tariffs.
The program is designed to induce Canadian companies to use domestic steel by making foreign imports price prohibitive.
“We must reinforce our strength at home and safeguard Canadian workers and businesses from the unjust U.S. tariffs that exist at present,” Carney told reporters on Parliament Hill.
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Carney said the government is considering additional tariff measures in the coming days to keep more foreign steel out and address what he called “persistent global overcapacity and unfair trade.”
That’s in response to industry demands that the federal government tamp down on foreign companies dumping cheap steel in Canada, hurting local suppliers — a phenomenon the sector says has only gotten worse since Trump levied global tariffs on the metal.
Carney said the government’s push to get major infrastructure and natural resources projects built quickly will also help the struggling steel sector.
A pending government bill before Parliament, C-5, would give Carney’s cabinet the ability to fast-track approvals for “nation-building” projects, many of which would require huge quantities of steel and aluminum during construction.
“We, as Canadians, can give ourselves far more than the Americans can ever take away. Steel and aluminum workers are on the front lines of this trade war. These workers will help us build one, strong Canadian economy — the strongest economy in the G7,” Carney said.
The measures come “at the right time” and send “a strong signal towards focused and accelerated negotiations,” said Jean Simard, president of the Aluminium Association of Canada, in a statement.
He said that without a “positive” outcome by Carney’s deadline, the industry will seek “agility and speed for government interventions.”
