Donald Trump has announced that he has doubled Canadian steel and aluminum tariffs from 25% to 50% in retaliation for Ontario’s surcharge for 25% extra charges on electricity exports to several US and a dramatic escalation of a trade war with two superficially allies.
“Based on Ontario, Canada, I placed a 25% tariff on ‘electricity’ entering the US, so I directed AD (sic) an additional 25% tariff on all steel and aluminum, which is one of the highest tax payment countries in the world, with all steel and aluminum coming from Canada to the US. ”
The president said tariffs would come into effect on Wednesday morning, March 12, and once again threatened to make Canada the 51st US province.
Trump’s announcement is the latest in the turmoil over the president’s trade policy, and its uncertainty raises concerns about the US recession.
Over the past few days, the White House strategy has been to reduce uncertainty on Wall Street. U.S. stock markets continued to fall Monday after Trump refused to rule out a possible recession in an interview with Fox News over the weekend. By the end of the day, the Nasdaq saw its worst day since September 2022, dropping by 4%.
The sale continued until Tuesday morning after Trump’s announcement, with the Dow down 1.2%, while the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq down as well.
In response to Trump’s new tariffs, Ontario Premier Doug Ford told MSNBC that Canada would “not retreat” and encouraged American CEOs to speak out. Ford has said in the past that he is willing to completely cut off U.S. energy supply from Canada in response to Trump’s tariffs.
“We’re not merciless,” Ford said Tuesday. “We need these CEOs to actually get the backbone, stand in front of him and say, ‘This is going to be a disaster.’ It’s a massive mess right now. ”
A 25% tariff on steel and aluminum imports from other countries is expected to come into effect Wednesday after Trump announced sector duties last month.
Trump is scheduled to meet on Tuesday with Business Roundtable, an influential group of business leaders, including CEOs of Google, Amazon and JPMorgan.
In a statement last week, the group supports a trade policy that “invigorates open markets for US exports, domestic manufacturing sites and risky supply chains,” but urged the White House to “maintain profits” of the US-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA), which Trump signed in 2020.
In recent weeks, both consumer and business trust has declined since Trump took office.
A survey published Monday in the Chief Executive Officer’s journal found that CEOs’ ratings for the current business environment fell 20% in January, with one person being “poor” and 10 being “excellent” – down from a minimum of five to five since spring 2020.
Meanwhile, consumer trust, measured by conference committees, saw a decline in trust by more than 6% in February, lowering the biggest monthly to month decline since August 2021.
