White House considers more economic penalties against Canada: report

The White House is discussing additional economic penalties against Canada in response to the country’s threat to impose retaliatory tariffs on U.S. products, according to The Washington Post. 

The Post offered no details on what kind of penalties the administration is considering against Canada, which plans to levy tariffs on about $13 billion of U.S. products in response to U.S. tariffs on Canadian steel and aluminum.

Among the products that could be hit by the Canadian tariffs are orange juice, soy sauce, sleeping bags and inflatable boats, according to the Post. 

{mosads}Canada is hosting this weekend’s G-7 summit, where Trump’s trade policies are expected to take center stage.

All six of the other countries attending the meeting have been hit by the U.S. tariffs, and all have criticized Trump’s decision to impose economic penalties.  

The Post reports that Trump is preparing to confront other world leaders at the meeting. Trump has long seen the U.S. as being in a losing position in the global trading system and vowed to change that dynamic as president.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has called the U.S. tariffs “totally unacceptable,” and also told NBC that he didn’t know what Trump wanted to accomplish with the tariffs, considering that the U.S. has $2 billion surplus on steel with Canada. 

The steel and aluminum tariffs Trump imposed have led to disagreements inside his administration. On Tuesday, it was reported that Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin urged Trump to exempt Canada from the tariffs during a White House meeting. Mnuchin’s reasoning for Canada’s exemption was because of the $2 billion steel surplus and more than $25 billion service surplus the U.S. enjoys with Canada.

Trump used Section 232 of U.S. law to impose the tariffs, which allows the president to take action against imports in the name of national security.

Tags Steven Mnuchin

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