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Published : 12 Mar 2025, 10:54 PM
Canada will impose retaliatory tariffs on US imported goods worth C$29.8 billion ($20 billion) effective on Thursday in response to US President Donald Trump's steel and aluminum tariffs, Canada's Finance Minister Dominic LeBlanc said.
Trump's increased tariffs on steel and aluminum imports took effect on Wednesday as prior exemptions, duty-free quotas and product exclusions expired, and as his campaign to reorder global trade norms in favor of the US gains momentum.
Canada is the biggest foreign supplier of steel and aluminum to the United States.
"We will not stand idly by while our iconic steel and aluminum industries are being unfairly targeted," LeBlanc said. He said Canada would follow a dollar-for-dollar retaliation approach.
Canada's retaliation targets steel products worth C$12.6 billion and aluminum products worth C$3 billion as well as additional imported US goods worth C$14.2 billion for a total of $29.8 billion. They will go into effect at 12:01 a.m. (0401 GMT) Thursday.
Products affected by Canada's counter-tariffs include computers, sports equipment, and cast iron products, LeBlanc said at a news conference.
These retaliatory tariffs are on top of those on C$30 billion worth of US goods Canada initially imposed on March 4 in response to broader tariffs from Trump.
"This is now the second round of unjustified tariffs leveled against Canada and Canadian goods," Foreign Minister Melanie Joly said. "The excuse for the first round was exaggerated claims about our border... The latest excuse is national security, despite the fact that Canadian steel and aluminum add to America's security."
Joly said she would speak to US Secretary of State Marco Rubio at this week's G7 foreign minister's meeting in Quebec. She also said she would coordinate with European allies to put pressure on the United States.
Canadian officials are expected to meet with US counterparts on Thursday. Canadian steel producer Algoma Steel ASTL.TO has paused exports of steel from Canada to the United States until Thursday, pending the meetings, the company's CEO Michael Garcia said.
The escalation of the US-Canada trade war occurred as Prime Minister Justin Trudeau prepared to hand over power this week to his successor Mark Carney, who won the leadership race of the ruling Liberals on Sunday.
On Monday, Carney said he could not speak with Trump until he was sworn in as prime minister. Trump again on social media said he wanted Canada "to become our cherished Fifty First State."
"I'm ready to sit down with President Trump at the appropriate time, under a position where there's respect for Canadian sovereignty and we're working for a common approach, a much more comprehensive approach for trade," Carney said while touring a steel plant in Ontario.
"We are all going to be better off when the greatest economic and security partnership in the world is renewed, relaunched," he said. "We have a new government, but the same commitment."
