The nations targeted by the prices of President Trump on steel and aluminum decreed the measures on Tuesday on Tuesday and threatened to retaliate in an increasing commercial dispute which threatens to go hiking in economic markets and to reduce the relations of the States- United with the main allies.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in Canada, the largest supplier of the two metals in the United States, described Mr. Trump’s 25% tariffs on all imports of steel and aluminum as “unjustified” and “unacceptable” .
Trudeau said he hoped to avoid the taxation of prices – which will not come into force until March 12 – highlighting their “negative impacts on Americans and Canadians”.
He added that Canada “would also work with our international partners and friends” to put pressure on the Trump administration. When he was asked if he was ready to answer with counter-tale, Mr. Trudeau said Canada “would be held firmly and firmly if we need it”.
European countries have also warned of reprisals in response to Mr. Trump’s prices. Ursula von der Leyen, the president of the European Commission, described the levies as “unjustified”.
Mexico leaders said the prices were “unjustifiable” and risked undermining the economic integration of the North American market which has been forged in the last two generations.
Note that the United States has a trade surplus with steel and aluminum Mexico, Marcelo Ebrard, secretary of the country’s economy, said that he was planning to call on Mr. Trump’s good sense to try to push back prices.
“We take his word for this – common sense – not pulling ourselves in the foot, without destroying what we have built in 40 years,” Ebrard told journalists.
Trump’s announcement of Trump prices took leaders on Monday in Canada and Mexico, the biggest trade partners in the United States, especially by surprise. Last month, the president threatened 25% of prices on all imports of the two nations, which encouraged them to warn reprisals.
But a trade war was avoided at the last minute when Mr. Trump and the leaders of the two countries concluded separate agreements which gave a 30 -day prices last week. The two agreements involve strengthening border security that the United States actions with Mexico and Canada.
The sudden taxation of prices in the weeks of Canada steel and aluminum before the end of the stay left political and commercial leaders of the country by feeling on the whip. Canada’s economy is much smaller than that of the United States and would considerably suffer from prices. He now faces a rehearsal of the downward negotiations that have dominated the coverage of the news in recent weeks.
The prices are likely to deepen Canada’s distrust of the Trump administration, to strengthen betrayal feelings among Canadians and new discussions on fuels on the need to strengthen links with countries other than UNITED STATES.
Trump revealed that he was ready to impose 25% prices on all imports of steel and aluminum in the United States on Sunday while going to journalists on board the Air Force One on the way Towards the Super Bowl.
Canada was the largest supplier of steel in the United States last year, followed by Brazil and Mexico. He is also a large aluminum supplier in the United States.
Canada’s steel industry, which employs 23,000 peopleexports almost all of its products to the United States. There is little Canadian steel request on other markets, which are increasingly dominated by China.
The aluminum sector, which employs 9,000 people In Canada, is more competitive worldwide, although the United States is its main buyer.
During his first mandate, Trump raised prices on imports of steel and aluminum from around the world, angry with Canada, Mexico and other allies. He finally exempt from major steel producing countries such as Brazil, South Korea and Australia in exchange for quotas limiting their exports to the United States. It has removed steel and aluminum obstacles for Canada and Mexico with the signing of a revised trade agreement between the three countries.
This time, Trump brought pricing threats to Canada to speak of annexing the country and transforming it into a 51st state. While the government of Prime Minister Trudeau initially dismissed Trump’s comment as a joke, he told business leaders on Friday that he considered the threat as real.
Trump, in an interview with Fox News on Sunday, said he was serious about the annexation of Canada.
Tuesday, Trudeau pushed Mr. Trump on Tuesday.
“It’s a moment of pride,” said Trudeau, speaking in Paris where he attended a conference on artificial intelligence. “It’s a moment to come together. It’s a moment for Canada to be solid in our identity. »»
Mexico was the third largest supplier of steel in the United States in 2024, according to American Iron and Steel Institute.
A spokesperson for Mexican Steel Trade Association, Canacero, said that he would wait to assess the impact on industry, which is concentrated in northern Mexico and provides steel for everything, cars to Washing machines with building materials.
When Mr. Trump imposed prices during his first mandate – 25% on steel and 10% on aluminum – Mexico retaliated with counter -caricots on the main American products, including pork, apples, apples, apples, apples, apples, apples, apples, apples, apples, apples, apples, apples, apples, apples, apples, Cheese, cranberries, Bourbon and Harley Davidson whiskey, according to Valeria Moy, the director general of the Mexican institute for competitiveness.
The prices were raised about a year later with the signing of the revised free trade agreement between the United States, Canada and Mexico.
Although short -term prices on steel and aluminum did not lead to important gains for American manufacturers, Ms. Moy said he was not surprising that Trump was planning to turn to them.
“This represents an easy victory to communicate for Trump,” said Ms. Moy. “This benefits – in the short term – an industry that has become emblematic in the United States.”
Brazil exported $ 4.5 billion in the United States last year. The United States was by far the largest international market for Brazilian steel, but that only represented about 11% of Brazil’s steel sales, most of which are national.
The last time Mr. Trump implemented prices against steel imports, he largely exempted Brazil. Experts thought at the time that because the United States had a trade surplus with Brazil, Trump did not see that it was necessary to target the country with prices, said Carla Beni, an economist who follows International trade in Fundação Getulio Vargas, a university in Brazil.
Brazilian steel prices could turn against the United States, said Beni. Brazil imports more than a billion dollars a year of coal in the United States- a large part to make steel- therefore harm the Brazilian steel industry could strike the American coal industry, it was She declared.
“It could be very interesting for Brazil at the negotiating table,” she said. “Because if I produce less steel, I will need less coal.”
