WASHINGTON DC: U.S. President Donald Trump ramped up his trade war with Canada on Tuesday, doubling the 25% U.S. tariff on its northern neighbor’s steel and aluminum exports to 50% after Canada’s Ontario provincial leader said he is adding a 25% levy on electricity sold to 1.5 million American customers.
In an all-caps post on his Truth Social media platform, Trump called Canada “one of the highest tariffing nations anywhere in the world.” The president said the doubled U.S. steel and aluminum tariffs would take effect Wednesday morning.
In addition, Trump demanded that Ottawa “must immediately drop their Anti-American Farmer Tariff of 250% to 390% on various U.S. dairy products, which has long been considered outrageous.”
Trump ignited the economic war last week with Canada, normally a staunch ally and the U.S.’s second-biggest trading partner after Mexico, by first imposing and then delaying for a month a 25% tariff on all products exported to the United States.
Trump said he is pressuring Canada to further curb the flow of migrants and illicit drugs, especially the deadly opioid fentanyl, into the United States.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters that Trump was boosting the steel and aluminum tariffs because “Canada has been ripping off the United States of America and hard-working Americans for decades.”
Outgoing Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau retaliated by announcing increased tariffs on U.S. exports.
Then, Doug Ford, Ontario’s provincial leader, said that effective Monday, he was charging 25% more for electricity Ontario sends to residential and business customers in three northern U.S. states that border Canada: Michigan, Minnesota and New York.
“I will not hesitate to increase this charge. If the United States escalates, I will not hesitate to shut the electricity off completely,” Ford said at a news conference in Toronto.
He added, “Believe me when I say I do not want to do this. I feel terrible for the American people, who didn’t start this trade war. It’s one person who is responsible. It’s President Trump.”
(VOA)
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