Canada will ‘adjust’ counter tariffs on US metals if no deal in 30 days

[OTTAWA] Canada will “adjust” its 25 per cent counter tariffs on US steel and aluminum in response to a doubling of US levies if a bilateral trade deal is not reached within 30 days, Prime Minister Mark Carney said on Thursday.

“Canada will adjust its existing counter tariffs on US steel and aluminum products on the 21st of July, at the end of that 30-day period,” he said.

Carney also announced a raft of measures to support the Canadian steel and aluminum sectors facing 50 per cent US tariffs, including procurement rules that favour domestic suppliers and anti-dumping measures.

Canada is the largest supplier of foreign steel and aluminum to the United States, and Carney earlier this month had denounced the doubling of US tariffs on Canadian imports of steel and aluminum, calling them “unjustified” and “illegal.”

At the same time, Canada and the United States launched “intensive discussions” to rewrite Canada-US trade relations.

G7 leaders at the Group of Seven summit in Canada on Monday pushed US President Donald Trump to back away from his punishing trade war.

After Carney and Trump met on the sidelines of the summit, the Canadian government indicated the two sides could reach a trade deal within the next 30 days.

The talks are ongoing.

A good outcome in those negotiations, Carney said Thursday, would be to “stabilise the trading relationship with the United States” and “ready access to US markets for Canadian companies” while “not having our hands tied in terms of our dealings with the rest of the world.”

Canada exported 5.95 million tonnes of steel and 3.15 million tonnes of aluminum to the United States last year, according to US government data. AFP