A decision by the U.S. president to apply tariffs on some Canadian aluminum is a repeat of 2018, according to the Canadian Manufacturers and Exporters (CME).
President Donald Trump announced Thursday his plans to apply 10 per cent tariffs on some aluminum sent to the country.
Canada quickly responded by announcing it intended to impose dollar-for-dollar countermeasures on the United States.
Ron Marcolin, divisional vice-president of CME, said the decision by the Trump administration is politically motivated.
“Back in 2018, as people may remember, the U.S. invoked 25 per cent duties on steel and 10 per cent duties on aluminum. In this case, it’s aluminum only but of course, we are leading up to obviously presidential election in November,” he said.
Marcolin said Canada is the major importer of aluminum to the U.S. and the U.S. can only provide 15 to 20 per cent of their own. He said this will become a trade war because this is a political issue and President Trump is looking for votes.
On Friday, Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland announced Canada will impose $3.6 billion of tariffs on the U.S.
Freeland said they will spend the next month consulting with Canadians on which aluminum-containing products to target.
“We do agree, by the way, the federal government needs to do it, they’re forced into doing it, they’re forced into applying other tariffs. But the bottom line is the consumers on both sides of the border, the U.S. and Canadian borders will be affected by this, their costs will go up, unfortunately,” he said.
Marcolin said CME is against these tariffs especially after NAFTA 2.0 and securing a good trade deal for Canada. He said the businesses affected directly are going to pass the 10 per cent tariff onto other wholesalers and other products, but mainly, consumers.
“Consumers of aluminum in New Brunswick will now, whether they’re at a manufacturing level or a consumer level, they too will be taxed because no one is going to absorb the 10 per cent increase in cost,” he said.
Marcolin said it’s always the wrong time to establish tariffs, but especially now during a worldwide pandemic when economies need help.
