Toronto | Reuters—Prime Minister Mark Carney on Wednesday said Canada will introduce a tariff rate quota for countries with which it has free trade agreements, excluding the United States, to protect the domestic steel industry.
A 50 per cent tariff will apply to imports from these countries that surpass the 2024 volumes, though Canada will honor existing arrangements with its Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement (CUSMA) trade partners, Carney said.
Canada will implement additional tariffs of 25 per cent on steel imports from all countries containing steel melted and poured in China before the end of July.
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Carney is responding to complaints from the domestic industry, which had said that other countries are diverting steel to Canada and making the domestic industry uncompetitive due to U.S. tariffs.
The Canadian steel industry had asked the government to introduce tougher anti-dumping measures to protect the domestic industry. U.S. President Donald Trump increased import duties on steel and aluminum to 50 per cent from 25 per cent earlier this month. Canada is the top seller of steel to the United States.
Billion-dollar fund introduced
Carney also said domestic steel companies would be prioritized in government procurement, and he introduced a $1 billion fund to help steel companies advance projects in industries such as defense.
“These measures will ensure Canadian steel producers are more competitive by protecting them against trade diversion resulting from a fast-changing global environment for steel,” Carney said on Wednesday.
For countries without free trade agreements with Canada, the government lowered the tariff-free quota to 50 per cent of 2024 volumes from 100 per cent previously. Above the quota, imports will also face a 50 per cent tariff.
Catherine Cobden, president and CEO of the Canadian Steel Producers Association, in an interview with the CBC, said the timing wasn’t sufficient for domestic steelmakers confronting a crisis. “This is something we should have been doing all along, but it’s fantastic to see that we are making progress,” Cobden told the CBC.
In a separate statement, Canadian steel maker Evraz said it has filed a complaint against steel imports from Mexico, the Philippines, South Korea, Turkey and the United States, against unfairly priced imports of Oil Country Tubular Goods.
—Reporting by Divya Rajagopal and Ryan Patrick Jones in Toronto
