TORONTO - Canada on Friday hit back against “unnecessary, unwarranted and entirely unacceptable” aluminum tariffs announced by President Donald Trump, saying it will impose retaliatory levies valued at roughly $2.7 billion on a “broad and extensive” list of U.S. goods containing aluminum.
Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland told reporters that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau will spend the next 30 days consulting with industry, business leaders and other Canadians on potential targets, after which it will impose the tariffs.
"Canada will respond swiftly and strongly in defense of our workers," Freeland said. "We will impose dollar for dollar countermeasures in a balanced and perfectly reciprocal retaliation. We will not escalate and we will not back down."
The move comes after President Donald Trump announced on Thursday that he was using a national security provision to slap tariffs of 10 percent on some Canadian aluminum products and accused Canada of "taking advantage of us, as usual," reigniting a trade dispute between longstanding allies, just weeks after a new North American trade pact went into effect.
Freeland disputed the notion that Canada's aluminum industry poses a national security threat to the United States, calling it "ludicrous."
The United States originally imposed tariffs on Canadian steel and aluminum in 2018, prompting Canada to respond with retaliatory tariffs on more than $12 billion of American goods, including playing cards, ketchup and inflatable boats. The United States agreed to lift the tariffs in May 2019 in order to secure congressional approve for a new trade deal with Canada and Mexico.
The pact was ratified by the Senate in January and went into effect on July 1.