U.S. doubling of tariffs on steel and aluminum imports will deal a huge blow to Canada's steel industry, said an expert at Simon Fraser University.
U.S. President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Tuesday to raise tariffs on imported steel and aluminum from 25 percent to 50 percent starting Wednesday.
Canada is the largest trading partner of the United States and also one of the largest suppliers of steel and aluminum products in the world. About a quarter of the annual steel imports and half of the aluminum imports in the United States come from Canada.
A statement by the Canadian Steel Producers Association (CSPA) said the 50 percent tariff would cut domestic industry production in half.
"A 25-percent tariff is difficult, but a 50 percent one is catastrophic," said CSPA President Catherine Cobden.
"Some Canadian manufacturers are already laying off people or certainly putting hiring on freeze. And now with the 50-percent tariff, which is double what they used to pay just last month, that certainly is going to have more of an impact on jobs and really, some of those plants may have to shut down or at least scale back production," said Andrey Pavlov, a professor of finance at Simon Fraser University.
US doubling tariffs deals huge blow to Canada's steel industry: expert
