Prime Minister of Canada Justin Trudeau reportedly spoke to the US President Donald Trump on Thursday, February 28, about American tariffs on aluminium and steel. The news came after Trudeau’s office said “The Prime Minister raised the issue of steel and aluminium tariffs and expressed the need for the removal of tariffs,” on Friday, March 1.
Ottawa, the capital of Canada, had been strongly objecting to these tariffs imposed on the ground of national securities. Ottawa pressed many times for the removal of tariffs.
The US Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue said on February 28 that he tried hard to convince Mr. Trump for protecting the US steel industry with tariff rate quotas, instead of plain tariffs on imports from Canada and Mexico.
Earlier on Sunday, February 24, Transport Minister Marc Garneau said that Canada might find it hard to ratify a new continental free-trade pact unless the measures were lifted beforehand. The U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement was concluded last October.
Canada is the single largest supplier of aluminium and steel to the US. Washington fears that countries can ship supplies through Canada and pretend that metals are produced in Canadian facilities.
However, the US government official said the final decision would be taken by Trump and so, predicting what might happen would be tough.
Responses
