Support for Canada's battered steel industry expected as Carney lowers hopes for tariff-free trade deal
Prime Minister Mark Carney is expected to announce support for the Canadian steel industry, which has been clobbered by U.S. President Donald Trump's tariffs, at an event in Hamilton, Ont., later this morning.
A spokesperson with his office said the announcement will impact Canadian steelworkers and the industry at large.
In March, Trump imposed 25 per cent tariffs on the Canadian steel and aluminum sectors, citing national security concerns. He hiked the tariffs to 50 per cent in June.
Canada's steel industry says the consequences have been severe.
Catherine Cobden, president and CEO of the Canadian Steel Producers Association, said Tuesday there's already been a 30 per cent drop in steel production since Trump first imposed his metals tariff.
"We will simply not exist anymore in as strong a way as we do today," she said. "We are on the downward slope."
The relief announcement comes a day after Carney suggested Canadians may have to accept some tariffs as part of a new agreement with the United States.
Carney says deal without some tariffs is unlikelySpeaking to reporters on Parliament Hill on Tuesday, Carney — who campaigned during the spring election on securing a deal with Trump — said in French that all of Trump's trade agreements to this point have included some tariffs.
The Liberal leader said "there's not a lot of evidence right now" that the U.S. is willing to cut a deal without some tariffs included. Trump's trade arrangement with the U.K., for example, includes a 10 per cent baseline tariff.
"We are really not interested in a baseline tariff," said Cobden.
Carney did not say how the government will respond if they remain in place after the Aug. 1 deadline.
Bloc Québécois Leader Yves-François Blanchet took aim, accusing Carney of backpedalling.
"He has renounced and made compromises on many things so far without achieving anything in the delays he himself has created and announced," he told reporters on Parliament Hill Wednesday.
"He should never have said he will restore the full free trade agreement; he should not have said that because now he has to admit his own failure."
Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre said Tuesday Carney's tariff remarks were "another unilateral concession from a man who said he would never back down to the U.S. president."
Poilievre was also critical of Carney's decision late last month to scrap the digital services tax (DST) — a move Trump demanded to continue trade negotiations.
The Conservative accused Carney of putting his "elbows down" by cancelling the tax targeting large technology firms "at the 11th hour."
cbc.ca
