By Judi McLeod ——Bio and Archives--July 2, 2018
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“As temperatures and tensions increase, the measures targeting Can$16.6 billion (US$12.6 billion) in US steel, aluminum and consumer goods will take effect on Sunday, when Canadians celebrate a national holiday and just days before Americans celebrate Independence Day amid a heatwave expected in both countries. (Daily Mail) “The tit-for-tat duties are a response to the punishing US steel and aluminum tariffs imposed at the start of June. Ottawa also unveiled Can$2 billion (US$1.5 billion) in aid for the two sectors and their 33,500 workers.
“Timeline of trade tensions since the US decision to impose tariffs on steel and aluminium imports, including on allies like Canada, Mexico and the EU, and after US President Trump imposed 25 percent tariffs on tens of billions in Chinese imports. “'Canada has no choice but to retaliate with a measured reciprocal dollar-for-dollar response,' said Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland, making the announcement at a steel facility in Hamilton, Ontario where she was flanked by brawny workers in yellow hardhats. 'We will not escalate and we will not back down,' she added while noting that this trade action was the strongest Ottawa has taken since World War II. But she said the move was made with 'regret' and 'very much in sorrow, not in anger' against a close ally.”Of course not. And what better day to make retaliatory moves than on Canada Day when the national flag is flying in the heat wave’s sultry breezes?
“The list of more than 250 US goods subject to Canadian duties - including Florida juice, Wisconsin toilet paper or North Carolina gherkins, which are labor intensive to produce - aim to pressure Trump supporters in key states in November's US midterm elections. (Daily Mail)“The list of items to be hit with tariffs may look random. It's not. It targets specific regions of the U.S. that are politically important to Trump and to key Republicans. (CBC News, June 29, 2018)
"This list was clearly drawn strategically to exert maximum pain politically for the president," Maryscott Greenwood of the Canadian American Business Council told CBC News ahead of the U.S. tariffs coming into force. "The idea is, you look at a map of the congressional districts of the United States, you look at which members of Congress are in leadership positions and then you look at the big industries in those districts. And then you draw up your list accordingly.”
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“The penalties will add 25 percent to the cost of US steel, and 10 percent to aluminum and consumer goods. (Daily Mail)“Where does that tariff money end up?
"It goes directly into the federal treasury," Laura Dawson, director of the Washington-based Wilson Centre's Canada Institute said. "So it's technically a source of government revenue … Since we've gone into a WTO system and the various trade agreements, we have reduced the tariffs that are in play. "In fact, between the United States and Canada, almost everything is tariff-free — everything except dairy and poultry products."
“Canada and Mexico initially were exempted from the US metals tariffs -- as was the European Union -- but Trump allowed the duties to take effect June 1 after talks stalled to revamp the 1994 trilateral North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). “After the EU unveiled similar retaliatory tariffs, U.S. Trade Robert Lighthizer earlier this week lashed out calling them groundless and illegal. “'These retaliatory tariffs underscore the complete hypocrisy that governs so much of the global trading system,' he said in a statement, and 'do great damage to the multilateral trading system.’ “Business executives warned lawmakers this week that escalation into an all-out trade war would be devastating to the Canadian economy, which sends about 75 percent of its exports to the United States. “If Trump steps up his attacks on Canada's economy and imposes a 25 percent tariff on automobiles as threatened, it would lead to 'carmageddon,' Flavio Volpe, president of the Automotive Parts Manufacturers Association, told a Commons committee hearing on Tuesday. “Canadians, however, are overwhelmingly in favor of the retaliation.”Says Who? “In Ottawa, officials and others have declined an invitation to the US ambassador's annual July 4th bash. (Daily Mail)
'I've politely declined because I'm not happy with the direction of the American government and their constant attacks on our country,' Ottawa Mayor Jim Watson told public broadcaster CBC.”Somehow July 4th celebrations will get by without them.
“Canadian patriotism, meanwhile, has flourished under hashtags like #BoycottUSA, #BuyCanadian and #VacationCanada that urge people not to buy American goods and travel packages.” (Daily Mail) “Canada and the US are among the world's two largest trading partners with an estimated $673.9 billion worth of goods and services exchanged in 2017, with the US scoring a small surplus ($8.4 billion), according to the US government data.”Nor do Canadians need PM Justin Trudeau’s approval to travel to the good ole USA.
“The United States also is the top destination for Canadian vacationers, who made 42 million trips to the US in 2017. (Daily Mail) “But relations between these two neighbors have plunged to their lowest in decades, reaching new depths at the recent Group of Seven summit when Trump abruptly rejected the joint statement and insulted Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. “On the campaign trail this week, Trump continued his attacks on Canadian dairy, wheat and duty-free customs allowances for Canadians returning home, saying they were scuffing up brand new shoes in order to sneak them in. “US Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross last week defended the Trump administration's tariffs before Congress but admitted that Canada's steel industry was 'not being accused of directly or individually being a security threat.’ “Freeland took note, saying this was ‘self-evident.' “She also repeated that Trump's decision to invoke national security to justify the US tariffs on steel and aluminum imports was 'insulting' to Canadian veterans who had stood by their US allies in conflicts dating back to World War I.”Aren’t these some of the same veterans who face a wall of bureaucracy in getting their military pensions?
“Canadian steel is used in American tanks, and Canadian aluminum is used in American planes. (Daily Mail) “The United States has a $2 billion trade surplus on iron and steel products, and Canada buys more American steel than any other country, accounting for 50 percent of US exports, Freeland said.
"It gets applied at the border, so as soon as whoever is landing that product [arrives] there's paperwork that you need to fill out. And at that time, you pay (the Canada Border Services Agency) the fees and tariffs that are owing ... before you are cleared to land that product in Canada," Dawson said. (CBC) “Steel often crosses the border several times before it becomes a final product. How many times does the Canadian tariff get applied? "Every time it goes across the border, the tariff gets applied. Sometimes there's things called drawbacks and remissions, so that if you're processing a product in Canada and then sending it back to the United States, you can apply for a rebate," Dawson said. “In cars, for example, many parts are shipped back and forth between the two countries before a final vehicle is assembled and ready for sale.”Canada’s wishy-washy prime minister has a thing about making Canada Day ‘Trudeau centric’. This year he’s dragging Canada into the anti-Trump, midterm gang bangers’ war. Previously, it was gender neutralizing the national anthem, officially replacing the line "in all thy sons command" with "in all of us command.” Ignoring Trudeau’s official command, Canadians are still singing the old line when they sing ‘Oh Canada’. Could Trudeau’s Retaliatory Tariff War be a smoke screen to hide his increasing unpopularity because of his move to legalize marijuana in the middle of an ongoing opioid crisis? In English and en francais: “OF COURSE NOT!”
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