Tariffs atop tariffs? White House says levies on Canada would be cumulative
If the U.S. were to proceed with all the tariffs it’s threatening next month, there’s no way they’d all be compounded atop each other into one astronomical total, right? Wrong, says the Trump administration.
The White House said Tuesday that should all its trade actions take effect in March, it would indeed pile tariff on top of tariff, to reach the larger number of 50 per cent on some items.
At the moment, the U.S. is threatening two actions: a worldwide tariff of 25 per cent on steel and aluminum starting March 12, and it has also paused, until March 4, the threat of an economy-wide 25 per cent tariff on Canada and Mexico while it works on border-security deals with both countries.
CBC News sought clarity from the White House on how these actions would work together. A White House official replied: “If the prior tariffs that were paused are reinstated, they would stack on each other, so 25 per cent [plus] 25 per cent.”
Meanwhile, U.S. President Donald Trump is threatening even more tariffs for a variety of reasons, including on automobiles. These threats, taken together, hint at a penalty so eye-watering that it will inevitably fuel speculation about just how much of this is real and how much is intended as negotiating leverage for Trump.
The U.S. is deeply reliant on Canadian aluminum, in particular, and critics of the tariffs argue they will merely punish U.S. companies importing a product they will need for the foreseeable future.
But a Trump White House aide Tuesday insisted the U.S. has real grievances it’s looking to address in the metals industry and believes tariffs can help.
Peter Navarro said U.S. aluminum mills are operating at roughly half-capacity, while Canada’s are busily humming at near-total capacity. This action is designed to rebalance that.
He said previous exemptions from tariffs, including those given to Canada and Mexico in 2019, had not worked out, and now Trump is imposing one worldwide levy.
“The [U.S.] steel industry’s on its knees. Aluminum’s flat on its back,” Navarro told Fox News.
“The president says no more country exemptions. No more product exclusions.”
It’s not just Chinese and Russian overproduction hurting U.S. mills, according to Navarro. “It’s all of our friends and allies we gave special treatment to. And instead of abiding by the rules of that, they abused them.”
He mentioned Brazil, Japan and Australia specifically. When the Fox News interviewer brought up Canada, Navarro began complaining about Canadian government investments to upgrade an old ArcelorMittal Dofasco steel facility in Hamilton, saying it gave the Canadian producer an advantage.
“Why are you flooding our markets,” Navarro said. “We need a strong defence industry, not just to protect the United States but allies like Canada.”
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