US President Donald Trump said that he will officially announce 25% price On all imports of steel and aluminum on Monday, including for Canada and Mexico.
Trump made the comments on a press conference on board the Air Force 1 as he went to New Orleans to watch the Super bowl Between the chiefs of the city of Kansas and the Eagles of Philadelphia.
President Donald Trump speaks to the press aboard the Air Force One on his way to New Orleans, Louisiana, on February 9, 2025.
Roberto Schmidt / AFP via Getty Images
Trump imposed steel and aluminum rates at 25 and 10% respectively during his first mandate in March 2018 using national security as justification.
Canada was initially exempt from these tasks, but was finally struck by prices on May 31, 2018. Canada responded with a series of counter-trials on American products such as Florida orange juice.
Almost a year later, on May 17, 2019, the White House announced that an agreement had been concluded to prevent the “overvoltages” of the Steel and Aluminum supplies from Canada and Mexico, ending the commercial dispute.
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Fox News broadcast a partial interview with Trump before this match, where he said that Canada wanted to become a state due to the unfounded assertion that states “pay 200 billion dollars a year” to its northern neighbor .
Trump says that Canada would be “much better” as a stateAnd said he would agree to “subsidize” Canada if it was a state, an apparent reference to the American trade deficit with Canada.
Statistics Canada says Canada’s trade surplus with the United States was $ 94.4 billion in 2023, mainly due to oil exports.
Trump made the state comment in response to a question of the anchor of Fox News Bret Bret Baier in a interview Sunday television.
Baier asked Trump’s comments from Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Friday, where Trudeau told a group on business leaders that Trump is not kidding about Canada a state.
“I think Canada would be much better to be a 51st state Because we lose $ 200 billion a year against Canada, and I’m not going to let it happen, “Trump told Baier.
“It’s too much. Why do we pay $ 200 billion a year mainly in grant to Canada? Now, if they are a 51st state, I don’t mind doing it. »»
Friday, Trudeau told a crowd of more than 100 business leaders at an economic summit in Canada in Toronto that Trump’s comments on Making Canada a state is “a real thing”.
His comments on Trump were made Behind closed doors After journalists, journalists were left from the play. The Toronto star could hear what Trudeau said because the audio was inadvertently broadcast.
The chief of the Bloc Québécois Yves-François Blanchet said in a Social media post addressed to Trump Sunday evening, there is no scenario where the United States will produce enough aluminum to replace what he obtains from Quebec before the president’s mandate.
He told Trump that he exposed America’s advanced industry to serious inflation and that he should negotiate instead.
Trump first threatened to impose 25% prices on Canadian products due to border security problems concerning fentanyl and illegal immigration, but the president’s comments continue to focus on trade with Canada and , more recently, a perceived lack of American banks in Canada.
Border questions remain the official justification to threaten the prices, according to the decree.
On February 3, Canada and Mexico were granted at least 30 -day problems The threat carried out after Trudeau and Mexican president Claudia Sheinbaum spoke to Trump about their respective border plans.
Canada’s plan includes $ 1.3 billion in spending, announced for the first time in December, improving border security, including patrols with helicopters, and the creation of a “fentanyl tsar”, Who will work with American counterparts to fight against the toxic drug crisis.
& Copy 2025 the Canadian press