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Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney will impose measures to prevent the oversupply of steel and aluminum imports and can increase levies on the US, because the worldwide rate war on crucial industrial input is increasingly used protectionist measures.
Carney said on Thursday that Canada had imposed 100 percent rates for non-American steel and aluminum imports and on 21 July his 25 percent counter-tariffs would “adjust” on the two metals that were imported from the US based on conversations with Washington. The move comes after the ‘catastrophic’ doubling of US President Donald Trump from rates on Canadian Staal and Aluminum earlier this month.
François-Philippe Champagne, the Minister of Finance of Canada, said that the quotas were launched to “stabilize the domestic market and prevent harmful trading defects as a result of the American actions that destabilize markets”.
Carney added: “Steel from other countries, from third countries, starts to come in Canada if we do not protect our industry, so we set this quota.” The anti -dumping measures are probably aimed at China, on which Canada already has 25 percent surtax about the import of steel and aluminum.
Ottawa would also start buying Canadian steel and aluminum for domestic infrastructure projects, Defense spending and the car industry, the prime minister said.
“Steel and aluminum employees are in the front line of this trade crisis, these are the employees who will help us build a strong Canadian economy,” said Carney in Ottawa.
On Monday, during the G7 summit in Kananaskis, Alberta, Carney met Trump to discuss a new economic and safety partner. “We agreed to follow negotiations on a deal within the next 30 days”, the prime minister posted On X on Monday afternoon.
Trump introduced 50 percent rates for the import of steel and aluminum in the US on 4 June, which increased the 25 percent rate in March.
At the time, the steel industry of Canada described the doubling of the rate as ‘catastrophic’ for a sector that had to deal with widespread track losses and production closures.
Canada is the largest supplier of the two metals on the US, good for almost a quarter of the American steel import in 2023 and about half of aluminum import last year.
The steel sector is an industry of C $ 15 billion (US $ 11 billion) that employs 23,000 people and supports another 100,000 indirect jobs, according to the Canadian Steel producers Association.
Carney said he had contact with Trump “often about different problems” and these latest measures would keep the steel industry up, while Ottawa is negotiating a new trade agreement with the White House.
“A rate of 25 percent is difficult, but a 50 percent is catastrophic,” said Catherine Cobden, president of the CPSA, earlier this month.
