Transcription
Canada's steel and aluminum industry is bracing for a seismic hit from US President Donald Trump. As we've been telling you, the White House confirmed to CBC News yesterday that it will stack those tariffs on top of the other levy being imposed on all Canadian imports. This will deliver a hammer blow to this country's economy.
The CBC's Mark Carcol is looking into that. We could be potentially looking at 50% tariffs on aluminum and steel. Break it down for us: what does this all mean? Tariffs on tariffs on tariffs, essentially.
If, again, the worst-case scenario plays out—and I always like to say that from the beginning—there are a lot of people who feel as though this is a negotiating tactic by Donald Trump. That's why he gave us the 30-day reprieve on the general tariffs and pushed the implementation of these steel and aluminum tariffs until March 4th.
So, the reprieve on general tariffs expires on March 12th. We'll see where things go from there. But, as you mentioned, Arthy, if all of these tariffs were to go through, some items could be subject to tariffs as high as 50%. This is coming from what an official told a CBC journalist yesterday who was looking for clarification.
Factor in the potential for 50 to 100% tariffs on Canadian cars that President Trump was musing about the other day, and it just makes for what could be an absolute catastrophe economically for both the US and Canada. That is why many people feel as though this is sort of a negotiation tactic.
There are people looking at this saying, how can Donald Trump do this and threaten this and not know the impact it would have on his own economy? It could lead to inflation, which could lead to higher interest rates and just slower US economic growth.
When it comes to inflation, we already know that numbers just came out earlier this morning showing that in January, inflation jumped unexpectedly to 3% in the US. Consumer prices rose 0.5%. That's the largest single-month rise in the US since September of 2023.
So many analysts are looking at this and saying that this is just bluster on the president's part because he can't afford to do this just as much as his trading partners, like Canada, can't afford to do this.
Now, earlier in the day, you spoke to Frédéric Rin, he's the CEO of Alouette Quebec. He says that essentially he's concerned, he's mindful, but he's not too worried because he feels that if Canada can't get its steel and aluminum into the US, other places will take it.
At some point, if the metal doesn't go into the US, it will go elsewhere. We have a global balanced market. We produce about 70 million tons a year globally and consume 70 million tons a year.
So, a little bit like the Russian sanctions—I mean, the Russian metals stopped coming to North America and Europe but went elsewhere, and the same would eventually happen.
This all comes as well as the CEO of Ford Motors tells investors yesterday that if President Donald Trump's tariffs on Canada and Mexico were to go through, it would devastate the auto manufacturing industry in the US. He says it would essentially blow a hole in the US industry and give free rein to car makers in Europe, Japan, and South Korea.
Arthy, thanks for this. Mark, that is the CBC's Mark Carcol reporting.