President Donald Trump has opted to maintain a 25-percent tariff on Canadian steel and aluminum, walking back an earlier threat to raise the rate to 50 percent. The decision follows Ontario Premier Doug Ford’s move to pause a 25-percent surcharge on electricity exports to several U.S. states. Trump praised Ford, but remained firm on enforcing the 25-percent steel and aluminum tariff. While the walk back from the 50-percent rate prevents an even steeper trade penalty, significant barriers still persist between the two countries, with Canada upholding retaliatory tariffs on $30 billion worth of U.S. goods.
Canada’s government has vowed to push back against Trump’s tariffs, with Finance Minister Dominic LeBlanc stating that Ottawa will take firm steps to protect jobs and industries. The Canadian aluminum sector, particularly in Quebec, has deep connections with U.S. manufacturing supply chains, making the 25-percent tariff a potential disruptor for both economies. The U.S. auto industry sources roughly two-thirds of its aluminum from Canadian suppliers.
Trump’s trade threats have already had a ripple effect on global markets, leading to stock market dips amid uncertainty over U.S.-Canada trade relations. Critics state that the proposed tariffs could lead to a range of negative effects, including increased manufacturing costs for American companies, supply chain disruptions (particularly in the automotive industry), and higher prices for consumers as companies pass costs onto buyers.
Trump also revived his controversial rhetoric suggesting Canada could become the “51st state”, claiming that annexation would eliminate trade barriers. Canadian leaders have forcefully rejected this idea, with Prime Minister-designate Mark Carney calling it an attack on Canada’s sovereignty. Ford and other Canadian politicians have also condemned Trump’s rhetoric, while arguing that his unpredictable trade policies create economic instability.
Meanwhile, GM has stated that it has a “good playbook” when it comes to adjusting to potential tariffs implemented by the Trump administration. GM currently operates multiple production facilities in Mexico and Canada.
Comments
I’m beginning to think that this daily whiplash is just another one of his ploys to get daily attention. Disgusting.
Beachy 29579,
Narcissist crave attention.
It’s all about them.
E.g., Trump’s childish reality TV shows.
very strange your president m a k e a m e r i c a g r e a t a g a i n but then seconds after m a k e a m e r i c a t u r n b a c k… who can believe in his word ? not me
Can the guy settle on a decision for even a day?
Blowhard. Elon Musk is the Puppet Master.
Dementia is real….. Thought you guys had good shots down there?
My dad was a World War Il veteran.
If the veterans from the Greatest Generation could, they would rise from their graves, to spit in Trump’s face for what he is doing to NATO and our allies.
400,000 boys, men, and women, died so this draft dodging coward, Donald Trump, could tear down the things they gave their lives for.
Putin is pure evil. A Joseph Stalin wannabe.
History has proven you do not appease evil.
Then PAY YOUR FAIR SHARE! I’m sick of paying for the safety of the West. Be a man and protect yourself.
You understand that keeping Europe safe keeps us safe, right?
Ok….with that logic, what don’t you pay for all the security / alarm systems for everyone in your neighborhood. Pay for 24 hr protection so folks can call if something goes wrong? Hire a staff of highly skilled personnel to patrol your streets?
It’ll keep you safe.
How many times has the Canadian government requested US military assistance …… ZERO
How many times has the US government asked (and sometimes begged) for Canadian Military assistance …. Many Times. Canadians have died in conflicts stated by the US.
I doubt the Greatest Generation would like the central bank digital currency (cbdc) being created in Europe now and tying it to ESG scores so that people can be debanked and their assets taken if they disagree with and speak up against an authoritarian government. You know, like China does, and similar to what Canada did with protestors a few years ago (albeit with no cbdc yet there). You notice how a lot of what Europe does eventually makes it way to the US, too?
Nobody’s assets are being taken away from them because they disagree with their European governments. That’s just false.
John, You forgot to add “Deep State” to your post. That will make your fringe ideas more believable.
We just had a little election not too long ago to attempt to address some of this stuff. Sorry you missed it.
A group whose volume is inversely proportional to its size voted for what’s happening now. The rest of those who voted for the orange man simply wanted to bring prices of consumer goods down. Pretty sure if you asked them, they’d tell you they didn’t vote for any of what’s happening now.
eskothomson, keep telling yourself that. Is Trump perfect? No, but he is doing what he was elected to do. Meanwhile, at the Legion of Doom, the Ds are a mess.
Regarding draft dodging cowards, you forgot to mention Bill Clinton.
Gary,
Bill Clinton isn’t the current president of the United States.
Was Clinton being drafted
There was no NATO during WW2 all of the countries joined forces to stop the the Axis powers…NATO and The Paris accord are a joke all they did was support Europe who can’t seem to keep their money to themselves. Let them go make a deal with Russia or the middle east… GOOD RIDDANCE all Europe ever did was ask us for help and it’s because of them that some of not all of our prices on goods have gone up! We poor, sick, homeless dying people right here in the USA it’s about time we took care of them first! You like our Allies so much then go live in their country!
Pat Bellomo,
You don’t make deals with Putin. His word means nothing. He’s a murderer and a psychopath.
Had NATO been in place in the 1930s, World War II in Europe would have never started.
Can’t see the forest through the trees.
Or, Canada can drop all tarrifs, and we can have free and open trade… Wow! Isn’t that a noble idea 🤪
But seriously, of y’all can’t see what the trumpster is doing, I’m guessing you’ve always paid full MSRP and never negotiated. Negotiations are brutal, and when politics are involved it just gets uglier, and calling these negotiations miscalculated, or that he doesn’t know what he’s doing really shows how low y’all’s IQ is. Please don’t look like a fool. We can talk about him probably getting in over his head, but not that he’s completely oblivious about what’s going on. If you really are that ignorant, please Google Trum£ V Tiffanys. He knows how to play hardball.
Steve 29,
I take my order to the GM dealer and have them process it, along with my GM-UAW retiree discount.
Steve, some of these people here are just extremely shortsighted. They don’t understand the bigger picture.
I see very clearly what he’s doing. The way he’s going about it is the problem. He’s just lurching from one crisis to the next, and they’re all of his own making. There’s no long-term thought put into his actions, only short-sighted, kneejerk reactions to perceived slights from years ago.
eskothomson,
That is exactly why Trump dislikes Trudeau and Zelenskyy. Trump amongst other things, is petty and vindictive.
Steve 29,
“y’all’s,” says a lot about your IQ.
Along with your unhinged ramblings and mindless drivel.
They can’t see past their blind alliance towards a broken party! Remember not everyone thinks like you and me. It’s ok for all of these countries to take advantage of us but our American people suffer paying for them! It’s about time a politician played hardball and I think if Trump didn’t do this then someone else would.
Pat Bellomo,
You are absolutely correct.
There is no shortage of morons out there.
They called themselves Republicans.
Your tax dollars hard at work.
Elon Musk and Donald Trump did a Tesla vehicle commercial, in front of the White House, using your tax dollars.
That looks like an example of, waste, fraud, and abuse. Do as I say, not as I do. Omnipotent authoritarian way of thinking.
Why can’t the worlds richest man, Elon Musk, do his own commercial.
Did Elon Musk think that by having Trump‘s endorsement all of the Trump supporters would run out and purchase one. They have lost touch with reality.
This is just more garbage that Trump is trying to push on his supporters.
John Z, The president of the United States doing a Tesla vehicle commercial for Elon Musk in front of the White House, it is no wonder that the rest of the world thinks he is a buffoon.
I doubt that most of his cult has any money left to buy a Tesla. The grifter n chief drained most of them dry already. Stock market crashing. Folks losing their 401k. Yeah he’s real smart. Bankruptcy how many times got caught stealing from a kid charity, etc., etc.
This Trump guy sure loves to raise the taxes. Seems he is in the process of imposing the largest tax increases in the history of the USA. His political party will suffer the consequences next November unless they grow a backbone and put an end to this madness.
Our interest payments on our national debt is greater than our defense spending. I wonder how Kamala and Tim would solve this problem?
Continue to print money and watch inflation go out of control on the US and globally. Then the only answer to the problem is what their goal really is, create a new one world currency. A cbdc that is linked to personal ESG scores.
Trump raised the national debt more per year than any previous president.
Gary,
Ask Trump. He created this massive deficit in his first presidency. He gave a massive tax cut to the richest 1%, his buddies in 2017.
Trump recently announced that he’s bringing back those 2017 tax cuts for his buddies again.
And the middle class gets nothing, but the tax bill. The average middle class person pays more taxes than Donald Trump does.
It has been 19 years and Trump still won’t show anyone his taxes.
Note, correction that was supposed to be 9 years, since Trump’s first presidency that he has never shown his taxes.
John Z: Debt on 12/2016 19.5 T, 12/2020 27.7 T and 12/2424 36.2 T. The tax cuts are not coming back, they are being extended. I’m not one of Trump’s buddies, not in the 1% bracket and my taxes went down. If passed overtime, tips and social security will be exempt. Still waiting on how Kamala would reduce our debt that was caused by Republicans and Democrats.
Gary,
Kamala is not the president, so that’s a moot point.
I am retired and on a fixed income. I have my taxes professionally prepared. My taxes stayed the same before and after Trump’s tax overhaul.
Overtime, tips, and Social Security will not be exempt for everyone. That is for servers that are paid hourly under minimum wage.
And I believe nobody deserves it more than them.
Gary they wouldn’t solve our national debt problem it would get worse supporting other countries while the USA falls off a cliff!
These whiners will complain no matter what Trump does. If you’re really hurting that bad, get a better job. Your hero Tampon Tim lost. Go back in your mommy’s basement.
Whiners! Ha! Ya mean, the Whiner-in Chief, who’s taking a wrecking ball to the country that had the audacity to try to hold him accountable for his actions? That kind of whining?
Daniel,
Whiners ?
Trump is the one that whined – lied about the election being stolen for 4 years.
All you lemmings bought right into his con.
Trump supporters are just too blind to see it.
They don’t want to see it.
They don’t want to admit it.
Trump is still conning you right now.
Trump will continue counting you until the day he takes his last breath.
Its sad what closest allies are doing to each other with this nonsence americans are great and mostly friendly people that dont want or need this hassle lets sit down like friends and do the right thing WE HAVE THE 2 GREATEST FREE COUNTRIES IN THE WORLD WE ARE SHOOTING OURSELVES IN THE FOOT.
No matter Trump or not this trade deficit needs to be addressed. Canada takes, takes and takes but offers us little. Yes we buy oil and electricity but we pay for it.
In Canada they spend little to nothing on defense. Why.. They know we will bail them out if anyone attacks them. They block out dairy and timber at 250% tariffs. Even more.
For years they blocked out auto imports as we drove our MFGs to them with domestic CAFE regulations.
We are not wanting everything but we need a better deal.
America has given and given for years but it is time to balance the books a bit more to the even than unfair.
If there one thing I like even less than a Trump supporter, it’s an uninformed Trump supporter. If you wanted to, you could read the USMCA and understand the actual guidelines that Canada and Mexico were abiding by. In there it lists that once a certain tarrif free quota of Dairy goes across the border, anything above that quota would have a tarrif applied. This is an example of how to do free trade while also trying to help the industry of the country they represent. And fun fact, since 2018 when the USMCA was signed, that quote level has not been reached once. So your red herring about the 250% is misleading at best. Yes you buy oil, but we sell it to you at well below market value. That too is in the USMCA if you had read it. On top of that, everything in the USMCA was agreed to by…………TRUMP! If you think it’s unfair, he signed it. And if I remember correctly he listed it as “the best trade deal the world has seen”. So was he lying then? or was he lying now? Also what trade is unfair? The trade agreements were written to benefit both countries. The US won’t be happy until Canada just bends over and gives them anything they want. Its insane. Canada needs to find new, stable trading partners.
meh,
It is hard to tell if Trump was lying then, or is lying now, because he’s always lying.
If Trump’s lips are moving…
What a clown show. It’d be funny if it weren’t so real.
Should start putting tariffs on 4 cylinder full size pick ups next
A slight adjustment for windage, months ago.
We wouldn’t be having these problems today.
Is threatening and bullying the only way this stooge knows how to make America great again? He’s like a friggin’ yo-yo. Better yet, a spaghetti tester. Throw it against the wall and see what happens. Geez…
dkaz,
Spaghetti tester. That’s funny. You made me laugh.
The U.S. imports 44% of its aluminum, 58% of which comes from Canada, because it does not have enough smelting capacity. The reason for that is that huge amounts of electricity are required, far more than the U.S. can generate. As a result, most if not all of the 25% tariff, which applies to every country, will be passed on to customers because there is no other metal that can be substituted.