Trade

Canada to Impose New Retaliatory Tariffs on U.S. Goods

Written by SK Ashby

Canada imposed retaliatory tariffs on American goods last year in response to Trump's tariffs on foreign steel and aluminum, but Canadian officials evidently believe their tariffs have not been as effective as they could be.

Canadian officials say they may release a new list of tariffs next week that will hit the American agricultural industry.

From Reuters:

David MacNaughton, Canada’s ambassador to Washington, told U.S. agricultural reporters on Monday that Canada could announce a new list of targets as soon as next week, the Progressive Reporter and Politico websites reported.

The retaliation would include a significant number of agricultural products, possibly including apples, pork, ethanol and wine, they quoted the envoy as saying.

The new tariffs on pork, ethanol and other products would accompany Canada's initial tariffs on orange juice and whiskey, among other things, that were imposed last year.

A retaliatory tariff on ethanol could be particularly potent, perhaps even more so than tariffs on raw food, because farmers who haven't been able to sell their crops as a result of Trump's trade war have resorted to converting what they can to ethanol. And, moreover, recent flooding in the Midwest decimated millions of acres of crops used to produce ethanol.

It seems likely to me that Trump will respond to Canada's actions in an equally punitive way, but we neither country would be in this position if Trump hadn't imposed tariffs for no substantiated reason in the first place. I cannot blame Canadian officials for taking care of their own while Trump runs amok.