Citing a national security threat to the U.S. aluminum manufacturing sector, President Trump announced that he’s signed a declaration to re-instate a ten percent tariff on aluminum from Canada. The metal is a major component in virtually all equipment manufacturing sectors. In agriculture it’s found in pickups, grain-boxes, silos, manure-spreaders and veterinary syringes - to name just a few. President Trump made the announcement during a recent stop in Ohio.

“Earlier today I signed a proclamation re-imposing aluminum tariffs on Canada. Canada was taking advantage of us, as usual.”

Canadian politicians and the aluminum-smelting industry were not totally caught off-guard, as The Office of U.S. Trade has been touting the possibility for weeks. But with both countries facing economic head-winds from a pandemic-induced recession, Trump’s announcement has raised Canadian political- hackles as has rarely been seen. A normally perky Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Chrystia Freeland was notably icy in her response.

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“Canada is, once again, dealing with a US trade action. Canadian aluminum is in no way a threat to U.S. national security. In imposing these tariffs, the United States has taken the absurd decision when its economy is suffering the deepest crisis since the Great Depression.”

Freeland went on to say that unless the U.S. tariff announcement is rescinded, Canada will be forced to impose a counter-tariff valued at about $3.5 Billion.

Doug Ford, premier of Ontario - Canada’s single biggest trading-zone partner, was visibly angry. Ford is often compared to President Trump in his plain-spoken rhetoric.

“It’s just unacceptable. We buy more goods off the United States than China, Japan, the U.K. combined. We’re doing close to a Trillion dollars of trade. We’re responsible for nine-million American jobs down there because of our trade. Who would do this? Well, President Trump did this. Give your head a shake!”

Analysts on both sides of the border can see no legitimate national security threat and the tariff is being widely panned as an ill-conceived election ploy. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce sees no rational in the tariff, with Chamber vice-president Neil Herrington saying some of Trump’s key election battle-ground states would be hurt the most by this trade action.

“If this is an election strategy, the logic escapes me. You have manufacturers of aluminum who account for 90% of the industry’s jobs, that are located in in key battle-ground states - Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, that could be dis-located because of this action. The second thing that we need to be concerned about here in the US is Canadian retaliation. And you’ve seen some very senior members of the Republican party against these tariffs precisely for that reason.”

For now, Canada has not announced any retaliatory action.

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