As President Donald Trump’s 25% tariff on imported steel and aluminum took effect Wednesday morning, the European Union and Canada announced tens of billions of dollars worth of retaliatory tariffs against U.S. goods.
US President Donald Trump speaks to reporters as he meets with Irish Prime Minister Micheal Martin ... [+]
Canada—which has been working through the start of a trade war with the U.S. for weeks as Trump threatened, then largely paused, sweeping tariffs against it and Mexico—announced trade duties on about $21 billion worth of American goods in response to Trump’s steel and aluminum tariffs.
Canada's finance minister, Dominic LeBlanc, said the tariffs will go into effect Thursday and will include levies on about $8.8 billion of steel products, $2.1 billion of aluminum products and $9.9 billion of other U.S. goods—totaling about $20.7 billion in U.S. dollars.
The European Commission—the executive body of the European Union—announced late Tuesday it was implementing “swift and proportionate countermeasures on U.S.” imports in response to Trump’s steel and aluminum tariffs, which they called “unjustified.”
The commission said it will let current suspensions of existing countermeasures against the U.S. to lapse on April 1, and by mid-April other countermeasures—applying to goods exports worth up to $28 billion—will be in place, targeting things like steel, aluminum, textiles and agricultural goods largely grown in red, southern states, like Louisiana soybeans.
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The steel and aluminum tariffs are not the only ones Trump has announced since taking office, and other countries have warned of retaliatory tariffs against Trump’s other actions, as well.
Trump’s 25% tariff on all steel and aluminum imports to the U.S. took effect Wednesday. He announced the tariff in early February, saying it was “a big deal” and that “it’s time for our great industries to come back to America.” The tariffs have been popular among domestic producers, with the American Iron and Steel Institute saying in a statement Wednesday it supports Trump’s “actions to restore the integrity of the tariffs on steel and implement a robust and reinvigorated program to address unfair trade practices.” The tariffs upset Canada—where the U.S. gets a large share of its imported aluminum and steel products—though, and other importers to the U.S.
No, Trump walked back his threat to double steel and aluminum tariffs for Canada after Ontario Premier Doug Ford said the province would suspend its 25% levy on electricity from Ontario being imported into New York, Michigan and Minnesota. Before Ford met with Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and agreed to stop the 25% surcharge, Trump said on Truth Social he instructed Lutnick to double the tariff on Canada and again pushed for them to become the 51st state. Canada still faces the 25% universal steel and aluminum tariffs?
Trump’s Steel And Aluminum Tariffs Take Effect Today—Here’s How They Could Impact Prices (Forbes)
Ontario Suspends 25% Electricity Charges After Trump Threatens Double Tariffs (Forbes)