It has been less than 24 hours without some change to U.S.-Canadian trade relations. After Ontario announced a 25 percent retaliatory tariff on energy exports, President Donald Trump said he would double planned tariffs on steel and aluminum imports by tomorrow morning.
The “upgrade” increases tariffs on metals to 50 percent, which could make everything from coffee pots to car parts more expensive. Trump’s decision to retaliate against Canada’s retaliation may eventually include direct tariffs on autos in addition to everything else. He has threatened to “substantially increase” auto tariffs on April 2 if Canada does not meet his demands, saying that the move would “essentially, permanently shut down the automobile manufacturing business in Canada.”
Ontario Premier Doug Ford was unmoved by Trump’s decision, telling MSNBC, “We will not back down. We will be relentless. I apologize to the American people that President Trump decided to have an unprovoked attack on our country, on families, on jobs, and it’s unacceptable.” He also vowed to keep the tariffs in place, saying that Americans and business leaders here need “to actually get a backbone and stand in front of him and tell him, ‘This is going to be a disaster. It’s mass chaos right now.’”
While dramatic, this is just the latest in a rapid series of changes in U.S. trade policy, and there are no signs that a slowdown is coming soon. We’ll likely be back next week talking about a different policy that changes or supersedes this announcement, so, um, stay tuned.
[Images: Joshua Sukoff via Shutterstock, GM]
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