(Ottawa) Prime Minister Mark Carney detailed on Wednesday how he intends to prioritize the use of Canadian steel, by imposing quotas on imports of this product and its derivatives.
Imports from the United States are exempt, as well as those in Mexico, due to the Canada-US-Mexico (ACEUM) agreement.
Beyond the quotas announced-which are more imposing for the countries with which Canada has no free trade agreement-imports will be subject to a customs right of 50 %.
An additional 25 % surcharge will apply to all steel products containing melted metal and sunk in China in order to counter “dumping”.
Carney presented the series of measures as a way of countering “the side effect” caused by “United States negotiations” with other countries, discussions that include heavy customs duties on steel.
“One of the consequences of these very high customs rights is that it pushes these products-in this case steel and its derivatives-to the Canadian market, which has been historically open, he said. It is therefore important to protect our market. »»
The Prime Minister detailed protectionist measures after meeting steel industry workers in Hamilton.
Photo Chris Young, Canadian Press
Prime Minister Mark Carney met steel workers on Wednesday in Hamilton
More specifically, import quotas are set at 50 % of their 2024 level for countries that do not agree to free trade with Canada. For the rest of the countries, with the exception of the United States and Mexico, they will not be able to exceed their levels of 2024, otherwise they will be subject to the surcharge of 50 %.
“We have the potential to become our best customer for steel, but we will lose this capacity if we do not manage the deep transformation currently underway in industry,” added Mr. Carney.
The United States doubled, last month, its customs duties on steel and aluminum, especially from Canada, passing them from 25 % to 50 %. Canada has not, for the moment, not responded by increasing its reprisal tariff measures.
“We will see,” said Carney on Wednesday, noting that negotiations with the United States for an economic and security agreement continue.
Canada hopes to conclude such an agreement by 1is August, a new deadline declared by US President Donald Trump. This deadline has been set unilaterally by the American administration through a letter brandishing the threat of a new surcharge of 35 % on Canadian imports which would come into force on such a date.
The White House clarified that the goods conforming to the ACEUM will not be affected. “It is a vast exemption,” noted Fen Osler Hampson, professor chancellor at Carleton University and expert in international negotiations.
Tuesday, Carney mentioned that, even if Canada concludes an agreement with the United States, this partnership may include customs duties.
“There is not much evidence at that time (that) agreements, agreements or negotiations with the Americans, for any country, any jurisdiction, (mean) to have an agreement without prices,” he said.
Called Tuesday to specify which level of customs duties could be acceptable to Canada, the Prime Minister refused to advance, explaining that it would be strategically harmful to publicly reveal such cards.
The chief of the Bloc Québécois, Yves-François Blanchet, also played caution in this chapter, during a press briefing in Ottawa on Wednesday. “I do not want to comment on the result of a negotiation before it is done,” he replied.
Be that as it may, the Prime Minister, according to Mr. Blanchet, “only mentioned something obvious” by arguing that customs duties would probably remain in place.
The party leader noted that customs duties were already applied well before the ACEUM, especially those on wood, in addition to other restrictions. “We must make sure that it is as minimal as possible,” he said in English in response to a question posed to him in this language.
Once again, Mr. Blanchet criticized Mr. Carney for having to help the steel sector without doing enough, in his opinion, to help very present sectors in Quebec, like that of aluminum.
