President Donald Trump announced he was reimposing a 10% tariff on Canadian aluminum in an effort to help American producers. The new tariffs follow months of negotiations between the U.S. and Canada over whether there has been a "meaningful surge" in aluminum exports from Canada to the United States.
The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative said in a statement that after the aluminum tariffs were suspended in the middle of 2019, “imports from Canada of the product that accounts for the largest share of Canada’s aluminum exports to the United States have surged above historical levels.“
The Window and Door Manufacturers Association (WDMA) opposed the decision to reinstate the 10% tariff, calling the decision "highly misguided" amid the domestic economic uncertainty.
“The COVID pandemic has created severe economic distortions for manufacturers and imposing a tariff will simply increase the cost of a vital material for manufacturing and construction," WDMA president and CEO Michael O’Brien said in a prepared statement. "Furthermore, we are concerned that this action will undermine the work accomplished by the United States–Mexico–Canada Agreement's (USMCA) recent implementation, in addition to harming our regional trading relationships. The North American market is a critical sector for window, door and skylight manufacturing and we urge the Administration to reconsider this decision.”
In response to the tariff announcement by the United States, Canada said it will slap retaliatory tariffs on $2.7 billion worth of U.S. goods.
"Canada will respond swiftly and strongly. We will impose dollar-for-dollar countermeasures in a balanced and perfectly reciprocal retaliation," Canadian Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland said during a news conference.
