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Trump says he’ll raise tariffs on Canadian steel and aluminum to 50%. Or Not. Or Maybe.

edited March 11 in Other Investing
Following are excerpts from a current report in The Washington Post:
President Donald Trump said Tuesday that he had ordered a doubling of the tariff on Canadian steel and aluminum in response to Ontario Premier Doug Ford’s imposition of a new tax on electricity supplied to three U.S. states.
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Ford’s action was itself a response to Trump’s earlier announcement of tariffs on foreign steel and aluminum, which is scheduled to take effect at 12:01 a.m. Wednesday.

“Based on Ontario, Canada, placing a 25% Tariff on ‘Electricity’ coming into the United States, I have instructed my Secretary of Commerce to add an ADDITIONAL 25% Tariff, to 50%, on all STEEL and ALUMINUM COMING INTO THE UNITED STATES FROM CANADA, ONE OF THE HIGHEST TARIFFING NATIONS ANYWHERE IN THE WORLD. This will go into effect TOMORROW MORNING, March 12th,” the president posted on his social media site, Truth Social.

Despite Trump’s claim, Canada’s average tariff rate of 3.8 percent is little different from the United States’ 3.3 percent mark, according to a World Trade Organization database.

Trump also said without providing details that he would soon declare a “National Emergency on Electricity within the threatened area”. He issued separate demands for Canada to drop its existing tariffs on imports from the United States of agricultural products, and repeated his insistence that Canada “become our cherished Fifty First State.”

The president’s trade war escalation renewed selling pressure on Wall Street, where the S&P 500 index lost 1 percent in early trading Tuesday. The market measure has lost more than 8 percent of its value in the past month, as the president has repeatedly shifted his tariff plans.

In 2024, Canada — the top supplier of foreign steel to the United States — sent nearly 7 million tons of steel to American customers, according to the American Iron and Steel Institute. Brazil, Mexico, South Korea and Vietnam rounded out the top five import sources.

Comments

  • edited March 11
    He's blaming Ford's move on electricity rates, but it seems to me it's past time that we begin to take him at his word when he says he wants to make Canada the 51st state.

  • Even before this latest barrage, all the Canadians I know have canceled as many economic transactions with the US as they can.

    Friends here on the Cape say their Canadian relatives have told them they will NEVER come to "Your A***ole Country again". Summer bookings here are down 10 to 15% as many Canadians have already canceled.

    About 35% of Massachusetts voted for him but with the rise in electric rates, vacations canceled and layoffs at the VA, even the areas where you expect people to vote GOP people are becoming very angry.

    The Vets in particular say he has stabbed them in the back with VA cuts
  • Some popular Canadian youtube news channels include: BNN Bloomberg, CTV News, CBC News and Toronto Star.
  • My friends, there is *no way*, absolutely *no way* Trump is making this Canada tariff issue personal.
  • @Shostakovich- Listen now- I've warned you about smoking those funny cigarettes.
    :)

  • brookfield's mark carney is leaving to become Canada's next PM and deal with trump. carney also has experience as Bank Governor for 2 nations ; this is bringing a bazooka to a pillow fight.

    on top of that, the Canadian people seem pretty tired of all MAGA\musk agendas. they seem willing to take the pain of keeping their tariffs in place for some time until flops stop and someone (else) is leading serious negotiations and not pimping propaganda.

    but hey, at least there is trumpcoin for american retirement. , and~40 fewer lbs of northern fentanyl, which has suddenly become bessent's expertise.
  • It's my fault @Old_Joe. @Shostakovich might have been following my lead.
  • edited March 11
    Latest from Bloomberg 3:00 PM:

    President Donald Trump said he was reevaluating plans to double steel and aluminum tariffs on Canada to 50% after Ontario announced it would suspend a 25% surcharge on electricity sent to the US.

    "I'm looking at that, but probably so," Trump told reporters Tuesday when asked if the deescalation would lead him to back down on his tariff threat. "I'll let you know about it."


    Hey guys. What do you think about possibly creating a separate “Trump” board here similar to the OT or Technical Question boards? I mean well over half of all threads now running deal with Trump in some way. There has to be more to funds and investing than this ……

    In OT he leads with about 90% of all threads. But even in the investing area he’s dominating with better than 50%. When is enough enough?

    Another idea would be to start a single “TRUMP” thread where his assorted decrees, threats, wiggles, etc. could be consolidated so he wouldn’t occupy so much space. I personally don’t think he deserves so much attention.He is not the entire U.S. and global economy - but merely craves that kind of attention.. And how many of these loud tariff threats has he actually followed through on?

    How about a weekly “Trumpster Dumpster” thread to cover all Trump all the time?
  • OK, here's the latest on this from The Guardian:

    Ontario suspends electricity surcharge after US commerce secretary agrees to talks
    Ontario will suspend its 25% surcharge on exports of electricity to three US states after top American trade officials agreed to negotiate with the Canadian province in Washington DC later this week.

    The end of the surcharge, which prompted Donald Trump to double his administration’s tariffs on Canadian metal imports and threaten even harsher measures, was announced in a joint statement from Ontario premier Doug Ford, and US commerce secretary Howard Lutnick. Ford imposed the tax last week, in retaliation for 25% tariffs Trump levied on Canadian goods, which the White House later relaxed.

    Here is the statement, in full:

    Today, United States Secretary of Commerce @howardlutnick and Premier of Ontario Doug Ford had a productive conversation about the economic relationship between the United States and Canada.

    Secretary Lutnick agreed to officially meet with Premier Ford in Washington on Thursday, March 13 alongside the United States Trade Representative to discuss a renewed USMCA ahead of the April 2 reciprocal tariff deadline. In response, Ontario agreed to suspend its 25 per cent surcharge on exports of electricity to Michigan, New York and Minnesota.
  • @hank: I am sympathetic to your idea of "segregating" Trump discussions to an identifiable topic that would be easy to avoid. I was listening to a chastened DemocratIC Party strategist about how their presidential campaign failed to reach voters with the right message. He wisely pointed out that the gift of Trump is to make people think and talk about issues of little lasting import (but not the serious issues) and provided as an example Springfield, OH. As he said, who's talking about that place now? My take was that a con man had succeeded in getting many people to follow the wrong pea in the shell game, while he picked their pockets. Even though it's a hard tack to follow, I recommend ignoring the static (yes tariffs, no tariffs, maybe tariffs, etc.) because the man is a con who craves our attention, the better to dupe us.



  • https://www.thestreet.com/automotive/uaw-president-offers-straight-talk-to-workers-on-tariffs


    the labor leader said that the country's labor force has been in crisis mode since the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) was signed and that there is "no other issue "that has affected our economy and working-class people.

    "We’re in a triage situation," Fain said on the program. "Tariffs are an attempt to stop the bleeding from the hemorrhaging of jobs in America for the last 33 years.


  • Edmond said:




    https://www.thestreet.com/automotive/uaw-president-offers-straight-talk-to-workers-on-tariffs


    the labor leader said that the country's labor force has been in crisis mode since the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) was signed and that there is "no other issue "that has affected our economy and working-class people.

    "We’re in a triage situation," Fain said on the program. "Tariffs are an attempt to stop the bleeding from the hemorrhaging of jobs in America for the last 33 years.


    Maybe go back a little further to the way uncle Ronny Ray-guns killed the unions. I recall that Joe was actually SUPPORTING unions. But the Orange Kool-Aid winos have been brainwashed to think that anything to help workers is a pinko commie plot. Meanwhile, back at the ranch, Vladimir The Righteous is calling the shots. And the NATO summit today happened without any US presence. Hmmmmmm.
  • So much winning....
  • I thought trump fixed NAFTA for the UAW with USMCA.

    "The USMCA achieved stronger enforcement mechanisms for labor provisions than the original deal, leading the AFL-CIO, the largest collection of U.S. labor unions, to support the pact—a rare endorsement from a group that heavily criticized NAFTA."

    NAFTA and the USMCA: Weighing the Impact of North American Trade

    Article
  • Yeah... as "they" say- "that was then and this is now". Or maybe "no longer operable". Or something...
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