Yiannis Damellos
Donald Trump was back on his tariff mood on Sunday while traveling from his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida to the Super Bowl in New Orleans when he told reporters that he would announce a 25% import tax on all steel and aluminum entering the US, a move that will have the biggest impact in Canada.
Trump also said that there would be an announcement later in the week about reciprocal tariffs on all countries that tax imports from the US, but he did not specify which nations would be targeted, or if there would be any exemptions. "If they charge us, we charge them," Trump said. Trump also said he would announce more tit-for-tat tariffs on "Tuesday or Wednesday" and that they would take effect "almost immediately" after the announcement. "The ones that are taking advantage of the United States, we're going to have reciprocal [tariffs]," he said. "It'll be great for everybody, including other countries". Great? The man is sick!
Canada and Mexico are two of the US's biggest steel trading partners, and Canada is the biggest supplier of aluminum metal in the US. During his first term, Trump put tariffs of 25% on steel imports and 10% on aluminum imports from Canada, Mexico, and the European Union. But a year later the US reached a deal with Canada and Mexico to end those tariffs, although the EU import taxes remained in place until 2021.
Doug Ford responded immediately
As Canada's steel production is concentrated in Ontario, Doug Ford, the premier of the province of Ontario, accused Trump in an online post of "shifting goalposts and constant chaos, putting Canada's economy at risk".
Trump also repeated his unlikely suggestions that the US could take over Canada and the Gaza Strip, saying Canada would fare better as the "51st state" and that he was "committed to buying and owning Gaza".
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