Canada hits back at US as tariff feud explodes
Promit Mukherjee and Bhargav Acharya |
Canada’s Prime Minister Mark Carney says starting September 8 his country will impose tariffs on imports from the United States across a raft of sectors
The move, announced on Monday, is in retaliation for US President Donald Trump’s new 50 per cent tariffs.
After days of intense negotiations, the two countries failed to reach a trade deal late Friday, worsening an already delicate relationship between the two long-term trade partners and allies.
The stalemate also complicates the future of a highly successful continental free trade pact called the US-Mexico-Canada agreement.
Trump’s new tariffs hit a slew of sectors including wine, furniture, dairy products, cement, clothing, fishing rods, hockey equipment and cover some $US20 billion ($A28 billion) of Canadian exports south of the border.
He again justified his threat by accusing Canada of taking advantage of the US.
“Canada has been ripping off the United States of America for years,” he wrote, while also claiming that the US did not depend on trade with its neighbour.
“WE DON’T NEED CANADA, THEY NEED US!” Trump wrote.
These duties do not give exemption to Canadian products under the USMCA, which have shielded most of Canadian exports to the U.S in the past 18 months.
“Canada will match Washington’s new tariffs dollar for dollar in order to protect Canadian workers, farmers, families, and businesses,” Carney said at a news conference.
These retaliatory tariffs will hit sectors such as steel, dairy, appliances, agricultural equipment, pulp and paper, and electronics.
They will also include products currently subject to the unjustified Section 232 and 338 tariffs, Carney said in a spirited speech from the Parliament building in Ottawa.
“We cannot accept what they have offered, and we will not give what they have asked,” Carney said.
with Reuters
Reuters