Ottawa – Canada began imposing tariffs Sunday on $12.6 billion in U.S. goods as retaliation for the Trump administration’s new taxes on steel and aluminum imported to the United States.
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Some U.S. products, mostly steel and iron, face 25 percent tariffs, the same penalty the United States slapped on imported steel at the end of May. Other U.S. imports, from ketchup to pizza to dishwasher detergent, will face a 10 percent tariff at the Canadian border, the same as America’s tax on imported aluminum.
Trump had enraged Canada and other U.S. allies by declaring imported steel and aluminum a threat to America’s national security and therefore a legitimate target for U.S. tariffs. Canada is the United States’ second-biggest trading partner in goods, just behind China.
Speaking Sunday in Leamington, Ontario, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau thanked Canadians for standing united against President Donald Trump’s sanctions. He urged Canadians to “make their choices accordingly” in considering whether to buy American products.
The selection of Leamington, known as Canada’s tomato capital, was no accident. The town is home to a food-processing plant that supplies tomato paste and other products to French’s, a major competitor of Kraft Heinz. Heinz left Canada and sold its Leamington plant in 2014, after 105 years of Canadian operations.
The new Canadian tariffs, which took effect at 12:01 a.m. Sunday, are hitting a long list of U.S. consumer goods, including ketchup and other Kraft Heinz products.
As part of his combative America First approach, Trump has repeatedly attacked the trade policies of the United States’ northern neighbor, citing Canada’s triple-digit tariffs on dairy products, which account for only about 0.1 percent of U.S.-Canada trade. The United States, in fact, last year enjoyed a $2.8 billion overall trade surplus with Canada.
Trump has also tried to pressure Canada and Mexico into agreeing to rewrite the 24-year-old North American Free Trade Agreement to shift more auto production and investment to the United States. But that effort has stalled, and Trump said Sunday that he didn’t expect a deal that he could support until after the U.S. midterm elections in November.
Not everyone is afraid of Duncicle Donnie and his band of white fascists. Besides Tsar Pootin, who loves him on the world stage? It takes a real Yutz to make enemies w America’s best friend, ally, trading partner, longest border. Only an Orange Dunce could do that.
The Trade War Begins!
TRump: “Trade wars are good and easy to win” 10:15 AM ET Fri, 2 March 2018
I hope that he is right.
The economy was doing great. President Trump began making changes.
We export pizza?
Reply to 5: Yes, Trudeau used to get all his pizza from Aroni’s Pizza in Kiryas Yoel. Justin is makpid on cholov yisroel, yoshon and no tzioni produce.
Aren’t tarrifs a good thing? It will force us to manufacture those items here in the states.
Its bizarre how some people defend Trump virtually no matter what he does. Scarey the brainwashing that goes one.
Canada, China, EU, will quietly back down first they need us more than we need them. it may hurt temporally but we will come out ahead
“The art of the Deal’
President Trump is the best
THANK YOU MR PRESIDENT