Carney meeting with Canada's premiers, responding to latest U.S. tariffs today
Prime Minister Mark Carney is meeting with Canada's premiers today to discuss U.S. President Donald Trump's latest tariffs.
Carney is expected to deliver his response to the duties after meeting virtually with provincial and territorial leaders.
Trump unveiled Wednesday a 10% baseline tariff on imports from most countries and a lengthy list of tariff levels dozens will face.
A White House fact sheet said goods imported under the Canada-U.S.-Mexico Agreement on trade, known as CUSMA, still do not face tariffs, though imports that fall outside the continental trade pact will be hit with 25% levies.
Trump also says he is going ahead with previously announced 25% tariffs on automobile imports starting today, which will add to existing 25% tariffs on all steel and aluminum imports into the U.S., including from Canada.
Both Canada and Mexico remain under threat of economywide duties the president has linked to the flow of fentanyl across the borders.
In early March, Trump imposed — and then partially paused — 25% across-the-board tariffs on Canada and Mexico, with a lower 10% levy on energy and potash.
Carney says U.S. President Donald Trump's tariff regime will "fundamentally change the global trading system" and that Canada will fight American tariffs with countermeasures.
READ: White House says 'no exemptions' as Canada braces for new wave of U.S. tariffs
Trump tariffs trigger two-week auto plant shutdown
Donald Trump's trade war is spreading and hitting just about every nation around the globe with "reciprocal tariffs," ranging from 10 to 49%.
And while Canada was excluded from the new list, the effects of other new levies previously announced by the U.S. president are already being felt.
Officials with Unifor Local 444, which represents workers at Stellantis' Windsor Assembly Plant, say they have received notification from the automaker that the facility will be shut down for two weeks, starting April 7. They admit that the move is not entirely unexpected, but say the company cited Trump's latest tariff announcement on Wednesday afternoon as the primary factor driving the decision.
Rerouting supply chains amid tariffs no easy task
The notion that Canadian companies can simply switch supply chains in response to American tariffs is a fantasy, experts say.
With 25% duties levied on some Canadian goods and the possibility of more tariffs to come, businesses north of the border are looking elsewhere to source their material and sell their products.
But companies caught up in tightly braided supply channels after decades of trade pacts and sector specialization may quickly bump into barriers around everything from transport and labour costs to resource availability, manufacturing capacity and market saturation.
Forestry players face an entirely different dilemma. Lumber exports, while ample, have a low value per volume compared to some other commodities.
- With files from Kelly Geraldine Malone and additional file from The Canadian Press
