Ottawa: Canada on Wednesday announced additional tariffs on Can$29.8 billion ($20.7 billion) of US goods, retaliating against sweeping American levies on steel and aluminum.
“We will not stand idly by while our iconic steel and aluminum industries are being unfairly targeted,” Canadian Finance Minister Dominic Leblanc told reporters.
He called US President Donald Trump’s 25 percent steel and aluminum tariffs implemented Wednesday “completely unjustified, unfair and unreasonable.”
Leblanc said Canada will be imposing on Thursday 25 percent tariffs on a new list of US goods that include steel products worth Can$12.6 billion, aluminum worth Can$3 billion, and products ranging from computers to sports equipment.
Melanie Joly, Canada’s foreign minister, said the US tariffs are “unjustified and unjustifiable”.
She said she would raise the matter with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio at the Group of Seven foreign ministers meeting, which Canada is hosting.
“We need to fight back against this nonsense,” Joly added.
The new measures are in addition to a 25 percent tariff on US goods worth Can$30 billion that Ottawa imposed earlier this month in response to Trump’s initial round of trade levies against Canadian products.
