The measures target steel products and other items such as computers and sports equipment.
The Canadian government has announced retaliatory tariffs after universal U.S. tariffs on steel and aluminum came into force on March 12.
Canada’s measures will be implemented on March 13 and target CA$29.8 billion in U.S. goods, Finance Minister Dominic LeBlanc announced in a press conference in Ottawa on March 12.
LeBlanc said the measures target steel products and other goods such as computers and sports equipment. They will be implemented alongside Canada’s other counter-tariffs imposed earlier this month in response to U.S. tariffs related to border security and fentanyl.
“We will not stand idly by while our iconic steel and aluminum industries are being unfairly targeted,” LeBlanc said.
The measures involve imposing a 25 percent surtax on $12.6 billion worth of steel products, $3 billion worth of aluminum products, and $14.2 billion worth on other goods.
This includes steel products worth 12 point 6 billion and aluminum products worth 3 billion as well as additional imported US goods worth $14.2 billion
The European Union also announced counter-tariffs in response to the U.S. steel and aluminum tariffs, to be implemented in April. Other countries like the United Kingdom and Australia have not announced any retaliation measures so far.
The U.S. measures impose a 25 percent surtax on imports of steel and aluminum. U.S. President Donald Trump also lifted previous exemptions on countries like Canada which the White House said “inadvertently” created “loopholes” exploited by China and other countries.
Trump said closing this gap and rebuilding domestic manufacturing capability is a matter of national security.
Canada is currently the United States’ largest provider of steel and aluminum. A large portion of Canadian steel imports also come from the United States, with the trade in steel between both countries being worth $20 billion, according to the Canadian Steel Producers Association.
The main production hub for steel in Canada is in Hamilton, Ont., while the province of Quebec is the leader for aluminum.
Trump in his first presidential term had imposed tariffs on Canadian steel and aluminum, using the same rationale. Canada had responded in kind and had imposed other tariffs on targeted U.S. goods. The two countries lifted the barriers almost a year later, after coming to an agreement to crack down on dumping and transshipment by other countries.
In response to Trump’s tariffs related to border security and fentanyl, which kicked in earlier this month, Ontario Premier Doug Ford said on March 10 he was slapping a surtax on electricity exports to three U.S. states.
Trump responded the next day by saying Canada should not be using electricity as a “bargaining chip and threat” and that it would pay a “big” price for doing so, while announcing the doubling of tariffs on Canadian steel and aluminum to 50 percent.
The matter was resolved later in the day after a phone call between Ford and U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick. Ford said he was removing the electricity surtax and the two mentioned they would meet this week in Washington to discuss a renewed United States-Mexico-Canada (USMCA) free trade deal ahead of April 2.
LeBlanc and Industry Minister François-Philippe Champagne will also be part of the trip to the U.S. capital. LeBlanc said the discussion will not be around renegotiating the USMCA, however, but instead about “lowering the temperature” and lowering the tariffs.
The United States will unveil another wave of tariffs on April 2 directed at all its trading partners as it seeks reciprocity. The Trump administration has already signalled discontent with a number of Canadian policies considered as trade barriers, such as its national sales tax (GST) and its Digital Services Tax impacting U.S. tech giants.
This is a developing story, updates will follow.