Canada has imposed “dollar for dollar” countermeasure tariffs after U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration placed a hefty 10% tariff on Canadian aluminum. Canada’s retaliatory tariffs are being placed on $2.7 billion worth of aluminum goods being exported to the United States. Consumers in both the United States and Canada may suffer economically over the tariff conflict, as prices of aluminum goods rise.
The Canadian government decided on the retaliatory measures totaling $2.7 billion during a press conference on Friday. Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland disputed the Trump administration’s decision to place a 10% tariff on Canadian aluminum, saying it will “hurt the economic recovery on both sides of the border”, especially during the coronavirus pandemic.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s administration has called Canada’s plan to enforce $2.7 billion in disciplinary tariffs against the United States “swift and strong.” Trudeau is in the beginning stages of consultations with business leaders to discuss the retaliatory tariffs on aluminum goods, and the announcements of the final word should come within a month.
According to U.S. President Trump, the proposed tariff was willfully placed on Canadian aluminum goods to defend America’s aluminum business and its manufacturing jobs. The Trump administration’s decision to place a 10% tariff on aluminum has been strongly criticized by Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland. She claims that Canada will place retaliatory tariffs on billions of dollars worth of goods starting Sept. 16. Trump’s plan to initiate the U.S. tariffs will likely go into effect on or about Aug. 16.
According to Fox Business News, Trump said, “The aluminum business was being decimated by Canada, very unfair to our jobs and our great aluminum workers.”
The aluminum tariffs will impact consumers who want to buy certain products that contain or are made of aluminum including bicycles and home appliances. Last Thursday, Trump announced that he has already authorized an order placing 10% tariffs on Canadian aluminum. Trump claims that the U.S. market is filled with Canadian-imported aluminum and this threatens the livelihood of American aluminum workers.
Trump declared the 10% aluminum tariff at a speech he made while visiting an Ohio-based Whirlpool manufacturing plant. Deputy Prime Minister Freeland reports that this decision is going to eventually hurt consumers by increasing the price of Whirlpool’s household appliances, among other goods. Freeland reportedly stated that the imposed tariffs will harm both American consumers and workers. “In imposing these tariffs the United States has taken the absurd decision to harm its own people at a time when its economy is suffering the deepest crisis since the Great Depression,” Freeland reportedly said at a news conference.
This is not the first tariff conflict between the U.S. and Canada. Back in 2018, Trump placed duties on foreign aluminum and steel, in an attempt to safeguard American metal producers and workers. However, Trump’s decision to levy aluminum and steel was highly disapproved of and criticized by metal manufacturers and business people alike. 
In response to Trump’s imposed tariffs, Canada struck back with its own tariffs. American exports were tariffed but in an agreement between the two countries in May 2019, both sides eventually stopped the tariffs. The tariffs were an advantage when Trump planned to amend the North American Free Trade Agreement, a deal made during the Clinton administration that Trump openly disagreed with during the 2016 campaigns.
Trump negotiated a new deal in place of the North American Free Trade Agreement, called the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement. The new agreement was accepted by the U.S. Senate and became law in early 2020.
But now, the Trump administration is contending that Canada has seriously raised aluminum exports to the U.S. after the tariffs were halted. Trump’s administration is arguing heightened exporting of goods is threatening the United States’ aluminum manufacturing.
Freeland emphasized that a trade dispute between the U.S. and Canada is low priority, given the global pandemic and the challenges that it has brought. She claims the economic recovery of both countries may suffer even more due to the tariff war. She continues by saying that Canada is a faithful maker of aluminum that America depends on and that the North American aluminum industry as a whole is stronger if both countries work together.
Freeland says, “In imposing these tariffs, the United States has taken the absurd decision to harm its own people at a time when its economy is suffering the deepest crisis since the Great Depression.”
She goes on to add: “Any American who buys a can of beer or of soda, or a car or a bike will suffer. In fact, the very washing machines manufactured at the Whirlpool plant where the president made his announcement yesterday will become more expensive for Americans and less competitive with machines produced elsewhere in the world as a result of these tariffs.”
What do you think about Canada’s retaliatory aluminum tariffs? What do you think about the U.S. implementation of tariffs on Canadian aluminum? Tell us your thoughts in the comments below!
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