Canada vows to retaliate against Trump tariffs 

Canada announced plans Friday to retaliate against the U.S. after President Trump announced Thursday that he is reimposing aluminum tariffs.

Trump announced the 10 percent tariffs at a Whirlpool plant in Ohio, where he said Canada is “taking advantage of us, as usual … because the aluminum business was being decimated by Canada. Very unfair.” 

Canadian Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland said in a statement that Ottawa “intends to swiftly impose dollar-for-dollar countermeasures” in response.

“Canadian aluminum does not undermine U.S. national security. Canadian aluminum strengthens U.S. national security and has done so for decades through unparalleled cooperation between our two countries,” she said.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said in a Tweet that Canada “will always stand up for our aluminum workers.” 

“We did so in 2018 and we will stand up for them again now,” he said, referring to the previous time the Trump administration imposed tariffs on Canadian aluminum. 

In response to the American tariffs announced today, Canada will impose countermeasures that will include dollar-for-dollar retaliatory tariffs. We will always stand up for our aluminum workers. We did so in 2018 and we will stand up for them again now. https://t.co/gYH0ziOVM4

— Justin Trudeau (@JustinTrudeau) August 6, 2020

The move from Trump, who has been aggressive on trade throughout his term, resurfaces a point of contention that had been cleared up prior to the finalization of the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement, which went into effect in July. The trade pact fulfilled Trump’s campaign promise of replacing the North American Free Trade Agreement.

Aluminum Association of Canada (AAC) President Jean Simard said in a statement that U.S. tariffs will destabilize Canada’s industry and supply chains. He said the move by the U.S. is “playing into the hands of Russia and China,” and distracting from the “unfairly subsidized Chinese aluminum production leading to global overcapacity.”

“At a time when we should work together to jump-start our economies by strengthening our supply chains, here we are playing into the hands of Russia and China. This move will not only benefit foreign traders, but will increasingly substitute Canadian metal with metal from Russia without addressing the real problem: China,” Simard said.

Driving American Jobs, a trade group representing the U.S. auto industry, said in a statement Thursday that they were “troubled” by the decision to reimpose the tariffs.

And Autos Drive America, a group that represents the U.S. operations of international automakers, said they “urge the immediate reconsideration of these tariffs so the industry can continue to ramp up production.”