United States President Donald Trump has leveled what his most devastating tariffs may be, and hit a significant part of American cross-border car trade and, possibly, all on a later date.
A new duty of 25 percent will reach all imported vehicles in the United States from April 3, and then some parts and, possibly, all parties.
It is a terrifying perspective for hundreds of thousands of Canadians that their jobs are connected to the car sector: the largest manufacturing industry in Canada and the second largest source of exports in the United States after oil.
It is a complicated penalty potpourri, with a clear objective, and the President was forceful to make the Oval Office announcement.
« Everything we do is say that you cannot enter unless you create here, » Trump said Wednesday.
The cars exported to the United States under the Agreement of Canada (CUSMA) Agreement (CUSMA) could still be affected by rates to their non-American components, waiting for a review, according to the executive order.
The cars are, with much, the most lucrative product that Canada sells in the world. This makes these rates potentially more significant than any of the other Trump commercial threats, including the 10 percent rate of energy and 25 percent rates on steel and aluminum.
Federal leaders speak against rates
The news quickly reverberated Canada in the campaign.
The liberal leader, Mark Carney, said he would return to Ottawa and, as a Prime Minister, will convene a meeting on Thursday of the Canada Cabinet Committee.
He suggested that they could follow retaliation measures and affected Trump’s actions as the abdication of the continental trade agreement.
The liberal leader, Mark Carney, brought his campaign to Windsor on Wednesday, offering a $ 2 billion proposal aimed at protecting the Canada car industry. Pratyush Dayal reports.
« This is a violation and has betrayed our trade agreement, » said Carney. « An answer will happen soon. I will not say more. When it comes to our options we have options. »
On Wednesday, Carney promised a package of $ 2 billion to protect the Canada car industry.
Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre said that Trump has to « demolish him » with his trade war.
« We had the best commercial relationship in the world, in the history of the world, before these unnecessary interruptions affected our economy and are hurting both parts of the border, » he told journalists on Wednesday evening.
The conservative leader, Pierre Poilievre, denounced the rates that United States President Donald Trump as « unjustified and unlimited », and pledged that Canada will protect the natives who hurt. ‘Canada will be there. We will be there for you, « he said.
Poilievre blamed the liberal « weakness » of Canada’s position and said that the country has to diversify its commercial markets and reduce taxes to help workers and companies.
NDP leader Jagmeet Singh said Trump’s latest action was a « complete frontal attack on native agents. »
« There are hundreds and thousands of workers right now asking if their line will close and if they will lose their work … we have to fight like hell, » he said.
Singh requested rates and support for workers and said that Cardney should have remembered Parliament to pass legislation to support workers before calling the election.
The Prime Minister of Ontario, Doug Ford, said that Canada will have to fight new rates and requested retaliation rates to « maximize the pain of North -Americans ».
« I feel terrible for the North -Americans, but he is a person, it is President Trump who is creating this chaos, » he told the journalists of Queen’s Park. « We won’t go to roll. Let’s do everything we can. »
How do U.S. 25 percent automatic rates affect the federal election campaign in some of the most exposed regions in Ontario trade? Two Ontario Watchers weigh how to play in the campaign: the head of the Office of the Parc de la Reina del Toronto, Rob Benzie and founder of the Queen Park observer, Sabrina Nanji.
An analyst regretted that this is a 60 -year output, from the automatic pact of 1965 that caused free trade in Canada. In addition, it makes a mockery of the agreement that Trump himself signed, Cusma, which supposed to allow a stable and predictable trade.
« The North -Americans have lost their credibility in terms of being a reliable trade partner, » said Fraser Johnson, an expert in automobile supply chains of the IVEY Business School at the Western University in London, ont.
He said that the Trump’s initial movement will not completely stop in the industry. To begin with, almost three quarters of the Canada car work include pieces, not finished vehicles. But the vast majority of these finished vehicles are exported to the United States
The rates will make real damage, Johnson, with little benefit in the United States, said, as it takes years to build new assembly plants, which means that new supply lines will not magically appear in the United States at night.
« This is not good news for anyone, » he said. « I do not really see how it helps the North -American Automobile Industry, certainly in Canada, but also in the United States »
Flavio Volpe, President of the Automobile Manufacturers Association, said he was creating an uncertainty for industry, and not just Canada.
The constant, always evolving fare threat, is also scary to investors in the United States, told CBC News.
« (Trump) moves the sticks twice a day, » he said Wednesday as he was waiting for the announcement. « You don’t know what to expect when you get up in the morning. »
Speaking before the announcement, Volpe successfully predicted the 25 percent rate, but with some exemptions, possibly in the north -American parties under Cusma rules, the agreement made the same Trump.
Canada is, in fact, a rare trade partner for the United States
Unlike the rest of the world, it actually buys more cars and parts of the United States than it sells. Trump’s first administration produced a report on car rates and almost does not mention Canada. He showed that the Canada quota of North -American car production has been relatively stable since the 1980’s, and that real change has been in North -American production in Mexico.
But this second Trump administration more aggressively embraces commercial protectionism and threat, hoping to lead production in the United States.
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