Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has asserted his government will implement “dollar-for-dollar” retaliatory measures after US President Donald Trump announced new tariffs on imports of Canadian aluminium.
Canada and the United States have had angry exchanges over tariffs imposed by the latter on steel and aluminium but most issues appeared to have been resolved as the new United States, Mexico, Canada regional free trade deal to replace the older NAFTA came into existence this year.
However, Trump used the stage of an election rally in Ohio to announce that Washington will impose a 10 per cent tariff.
Trudeau made his reaction public in a tweet: “In response to the American tariffs announced today, Canada will impose countermeasures that will include dollar-for-dollar retaliatory tariffs.” He did not specify what shape and which sectors the countermeasures will impact. But his stand was also that of Canadian Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland, who made the same point in a statement released by her office and added, “Canadian aluminium does not undermine US national security. Canadian aluminium strengthens US national security and has done so for decades through unparalleled co-operation between our two countries.”
The tariff war between the neighbouring nations comes as a repeat of events in 2018 when Canada had also retaliated by imposing $ 16.6 billion worth of tariffs on American products entering the country.