Trade

Trump Pulls Tariffs After Canada Retaliates

Written by SK Ashby

Trump renewed his trade war with Canada last month by imposing tariffs on Canadian aluminium after claiming that imports were harming American producers.

But Trump's tariffs have now been removed in a matter of weeks because Canadian officials announced retaliatory tariffs on American metal yesterday afternoon.

The Trump regime claims they've removed the tariffs because their mission has been accomplished, not because Canada announced retaliatory tariffs.

Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland told journalists in a press conference that Canada would drop the counter tariffs it threatened as retaliation, but left the door open for future measures if the U.S. imposed duties. USTR said it would reimpose the 10% tariff retroactively if actual shipments exceed 105% of the expected volume for any of the months.

“Should tariffs be reimposed on our aluminum exports in the future, Canada will retaliate with perfectly reciprocal dollar-for-dollar tariffs as we have done in the past,” Freeland said. “We will always stand up for our workers and our industry.”

There's more going on here than the Trump White House would like you to think. Or perhaps less.

The reason that imports of foreign aluminium increased over the summer is because of a severe aluminum shortage here in the United States that even led to a shortage of soda cans at grocery stores. But that shortage is now decreasing, and you know why? Because inventories have increased while consumer spending and reciprocal demand for aluminum is falling.

The Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR), Robert Lighthizer, says they expect shipments will fall over the next three months, but that has nothing to do with Trump's tariffs which have now been removed.

While the USTR announced the removal of the tariff, it said it “expects” shipments from Canada will be no greater than 83,000 tons in September and November and no greater than 70,000 tons in October and December, effectively signaling a quota. But Canada has not yet made a commitment to a volume limit.

They want you to think they scored a quick, easy victory against Canada, but it was all a show. This was a bluff and a campaign stunt.