Canada Got A Win After The United States Backed Down On Tariffs
The nation got what the deputy prime minister referred to as "good news" about a dispute with its neighbour to the south. Aluminum tariffs imposed on Canada by the United States were dropped by the U.S.'s current administration. The decision came hours before Canada was set to announce its own retaliatory measures.
Minister of Small Business, Export Promotion and International Trade Mary Ng delivered the news today during a press conference with Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland.
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"Today, the United States announced their intention to drop these tariffs on imports of Canadian aluminum, retroactive to September the first, 2020," she said, "Canada welcomes this decision."
Similarly, Minister Freeland added that the announcement from the U.S. is "good news."
The United States Trade Representative said in a press release that the U.S. would resume duty-free treatment of Canadian aluminum shortly before the government was set to announce its own tariffs on American imports in retaliation, according to CBC News.
However, Ng made it clear that Canada has "not conceded anything," and that the country maintains its right to reimpose dollar for dollar trade measures if the U.S. does the same in the future.
"Canada's motto has always been 'we will not escalate, but we will not back down,'" the minister said.
Ng concluded her statements with a message to all of the workers in the Canadian aluminum industry, saying, "we have your back."
U.S. President Donald Trump made the announcement that he would be reimposing tariffs on Canadian aluminum while visiting a whirlpool factory in Ohio on August 6.
"Canada was taking advantage of us, as usual," he said at the time, adding that the country was being "unfair" to the United States and its aluminum workers.
Freeland was quick to respond to this statement, calling the reintroduced measures "unwarranted and unacceptable."
"Canadian aluminum does not undermine US national security," she said, "Canadian aluminum strengthens US national security and has done so for decades through unparalleled cooperation between our two countries."
Tariffs have been a point of contention between the two countries since Trump introduced new ones on Canadian goods two years ago.