Bringing a Trudeau to a Trump fight.
Condo buyers in Canada’s already pricey markets may be the next to pay up as the trade battle with the U.S. radiates through the construction industry.
Canada imposed a 25 percent tariff on U.S. steel imports on July 1, retaliating against levies President Donald Trump slapped on goods from its northern neighbor a month ago. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government is also said to be preparing quotas and tariffs for other countries to prevent a flood of steel rushing in to undercut prices.
Steel fabricators and metal importers say the tariffs will jack up prices for everything from rebar used in high-rise condos to structural steel for industrial builds in a market already facing shortages and soaring prices. Job losses and stalled projects are likely, they said.
“If the government’s not careful, they will protect one at the expense of ten times that elsewhere,” said Walter Koppelaar, chief executive officer and chairman of Walters Inc., a Hamilton, Ontario-based steel construction company that counts Brookfield among its customers. “If they apply duties to broad-spectrum steel or metal of any shape, size or description, our industry here would be decimated — it could be thousands of layoffs and it’s going to shut down projects right across this country.” […]
“The margins are so slim on steel imports that you can’t just absorb a 25 percent tariff,” Tim McMenamin, vice president at Whitby, Ontario-based Ferrostaal, said by phone. “We’re not even offering steel into Canada because we are the importer of record so if all a sudden, there’s a surtax of 10 to 25 percent, that could create bankruptcy for trading companies such as ours.”
Wider steel quotas or tariffs would hit British Columbia hard as the province has historically relied on imports for more than 60 percent of its annual consumption, according to the Coalition.
“Bringing a Trudeau to a Trump fight”
Kate, we really need to start an awards show for subtitles.
SDA would clean up!
Amen
I totally disagree with the way Justin Trudeau has managed a lot of issues, however I fail to see where Trudeau was responsible for this trade war. Everywhere you look, Trump is at odds with everyone he deals with. ( I also see that his Commie friends in North Korea have disappointing him greatly.) The best way to deal with trade would have been to leave it alone the way it had been worked out by NAFTA.
I dealt with the problem by buying a foreign SUV, and quite by accident. Not one single part of the vehicle is made in the USA. Today, for the first time in my life, , I bought AA batteries that were made in China. Backed by Home Hardware, I’ll take my chances. Canada needs to stand on it’s own. I need a new Skilsaw. Makita will be my choice.
Now you went and did it, all the Trumpisites will be coming for you now.
All he had to do was start on country of origin rules any time in the year after they were brought up and this could have been avoided, instead of waiting until the day before the tariffs took effect to form a Committee. The rules would also have helped our steel and aluminium industries. Instead we get nonsense retaliation that amounts to simply taxing Canadians extra for things we don’t even make here.
Our Prom Minister is such a narcissist that he thinks he can win going tit for tat with Dolly Parton.
Zero proof that COO rules are needed.
I would suggest that the tariffs imposed and the fact that the government then started working on them constitutes a prima facie case that they were needed.
But of course you are just trying to support Trudeau by being a bigger boob than any possessed by Dolly.
Of course it does. What the U.S. is attempting to deal with first is the global black market for inexpensive, cheap, Chinese steel. Inexpensive because Chinese workers are underpaid, cheap because often the quality requirements are, at the very least, unverified.
Allan S is a truck driver. He has posted this and that he is familiar with strict border inspections requiring Canadian or U.S. COO (country of origin) stamping which ensures quality and ultimately the safety of the product. What he ignores is that COO stamping is incredibly valuable as a process and therefore subject to corruption. His denial of basic fact is not dissimilar to the behavior of any bootlegger. The Canadian government is well aware of and is a beneficiary of corrupt COO processes. Their accounting processes for Chinese steel imports and Canadian steel exports is corrupt. Wilbur Ross tactfully refers to this here.
https://twitter.com/i/status/1009824716171956224
This video segment has appeared here before, but Allan S is a very busy person as mentioned here.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=imhBoE56OEs
(If Allan S wants to believe everything he has time to view or read, perhaps he should adjust his sources.)
Allan S: They are needed if China continues to dump steel into Canada. We have become a dumping ground for them. Then you have the Chinese buying land and houses you name it they buy it in Vancouver, they have made the market soar…what about the money laundering that goes on…remember Tru dope he likes them because they can turn their ???? on a dime! The Chinese gov’t is watching and will make a move to own more businesses and property in Canada in the coming years. We will become a Communist country!! TRUMP WANTS TO SET UP A UNILATERAL DEAL WITH CANADA….”NOT MEXICO” TRUMP WANTS TO DEAL WITHOUT MEXICO! Tru dope hasn’t gotten that through his thick scull yet!!! THIS IS ALL ABOUT TRU DOPE AND BUTT’S so hang on until after the mid terms. Trump’s team is much smarter than TRU DOPE’S team more experienced. Tru dope is minus one brain.
“…Canada needs to stand on it’s own. …”
Well, I guess we could start by buying batteries made in China. And then move on to selling them our natural resources. In the ground. And selling them land here on which to build their factories and refineries and housing for their workers they’ll send over to extract our resources that they’ll export to China to make into batteries that they will sell to us.
you have no idea how possible this scenario is.
Ive been watching the chirese closely ever since I read a trade magazine flying back from Hong Kong in 2005, about how the counterfeit operations are in fact state sponsored.
copyright? how do you say ha ha ha in mandarin?
legitimate production run? just keep it going beyond the official numbers.
etc etc.
I should have kept the magazine.
“Canada Needs to Stand on its own”
Proceeds to buy Foreign SUV, Batteries Made in China and Foreign made Skilsaw….
USA tariffs = good
Canada counter tariffs = bad
I get it now
No you don’t get it, but again you’re a Bagdad Bob to Turdo’s Saddam.
Sometimes patience is a virtue. A crappy deal is better than none. WTF is going on with NAFTA talks now? Lieberals don’t care about Canadian’s prosperity. Its the anti-American, hypocritical, Canadian voter they want on their side and the polls suggest, as they were faltering, their strategy is to boost their sagging fortunes and possibly call an election on it. PM Adulterer and the LPoC don’t give a shyte about any of us. Never have. Never will.
Buddy: You are exactly right Tru dope doesn’t care about Canadians or Canada. He is very much like his Dad…just watch me!!! Most Canadians believe Tru dope when he blames the USA for the disintegration of NAFTA. It’s Canada letting China and other abuse COO agreement. TRU DOPE IS TO BLAME FOR THE DISINTEGRATION OF NAFTA!!
“What’s going on with NAFTA talks now?”
Since Mexico just elected Lopez Obrador, that means 2 of the 3 countries have leaders who want out of the deal.
Allan, both the U.S. and Canadian tariffs are bad. I know of no one in the U.S. who wants a trade war with Canada. Tariffs are the simply the manifestations of failed negotiations.
NOT about dairy. NOT about softwood. NOT about a renegotiation clause in NAFTA.
This is about steel and aluminum. But ultimately the tariffs are about China. I agree with Deplorable Me: “…. this could have all been avoided….” Why it wasn’t avoided I fail to understand ….. however, clearly it was a political failure.
https://twitter.com/navyhato/status/1012894093347713024
Exactly.
“Why it wasn’t avoided I fail to understand…” Other than his incompetence and immaturity, and because he is too focused on gender and diversity issues while at the same time defending and protecting his “certain amount of admiration for” the nation of China’s governmental system.
David in Michigan: Tru dope doesn’t like Canadians or Canada just like his father. Tru dope’s answer when asked to comment on his Open Borders Immigration strategy. He said, “the very concept of a nation founded by Europeans settlers is offensive to me. Old stock White Canadians are an unpleasant relic and quite frankly replaceable. And we will replace them”…which he is doing with the open borders. Thankful I’m old so I won’t be around to see all this happen and if I am I will fight voting him out of government!!
It didn’t have to be this way.
All juthtin had to do was make an act of good faith.
Now he’s going to blame and make others pay for his mistake.
But he is a Trudeau, and good faith isn’t something he is familiar with.
A nation that cannot make the necessities of life for their people and country, and cannot defend that country, will soon belong to someone else.
How do you spell stagflation? Trump needs to negotiate his ass out of this mess and in a hurry. His real issues are with China and Mexico. How did Canada get mired in this mess?
1) We appeared to be acting as a back door for importation of Chinese components.
2) Our Prom Minister volunteered because he thought it would make him look tough with the ladies.
Scar: It’s not Trump!! It’s Tru dope that has Canada messed up in the quagmire. If you haven’t figured this one out by now you never will…you need to do more reading SDA and Tree House blogs are the best to get your info….but there has been tons of it. Tru dope hates Canadians and that is it. He is above the law #MeToo is following him around also!! Tru dope is a LIAR and HATES US!! Do you get it yet!!!!
https://www.commerce.gov/sites/commerce.gov/files/the_effect_of_imports_of_steel_on_the_national_security_-_with_redactions_-_20180111.pdf
The original 232 investigation by Wilbur Ross’s Department makes interesting reading. The question of transshipments is addressed but there is no hard data on the scale of the problem and so the extent is difficult to analyze. It does explain why the official trade figures from countries don’t highlight the problem as it is strictly illegal.
Canada is mentioned quite a few times as the largest trading partner in steel, but at no point is it fingered as a leader in transshipments. The countries mentioned for directed action are Brazil, South Korea,
Russia, Turkey, India, Vietnam, China, Thailand, South Africa, Egypt, Malaysia and Costa Rica. The main EU countries also are not specifically mentioned as targets.
Without data to examine we are left with Trump and Ross’s claim that Canada is a major offender. Possible, for sure but it would be useful to see some figures.
The timing of the second announcement on tariffs without exemptions (for Canada) seems to be related directly to NAFTA negotiations. As a tactic it is difficult to respond to and The US administration can hardly be surprised that Canada and others retaliate.
A question or alternative not addressed in the paper is why the US cannot deal with the companies doing the transshipments, through greater legal penalties and increased customs action. If the target countries are expected to be able to limit the practice, wouldn’t the US be able to do that at the customs point? Granted they are doing that with a universal tariff, but that targets everyone friend and foe equally.
Granted none of these points matter now, or the original 232 investigation; President Trump has acted and the reaction has begun. Trade wars always play out this way, it is easier to begin action than to stop it.
Hey Martin, thanks for doing the work in digging up that document. Some interesting stuff in there that would take some time to really digest. This however caught my eye:
“While U.S. steel production capacity has remained flat since 2001, other steel producing nations have increased their production capacity, with China alone able to produce as much steel as the rest of the world combined.”
As I said earlier, ultimately this is about China…….
Saw a headline the other day, over a picture of rows of ketchup. It read something like “Trudeau crafts tariffs to hit Republicans where it hurts them the most.” Note what that particular editor was trying to do – equate this to standing up to what so many Canadians are convinced are “the bad guys”.
Since when does making Canadians pay more for anything hurt anybody more than it hurts Canadians? Our dairy tariffs – did Canadian producers & companies keep dairy prices low here, or escalate them to match the dairy + tariff costs of American products? Didn’t dairy products simply get more expensive here, while the gov’t raked in more taxes?
So to “get” Trump & co., Jr is going to make every Canadian industry pay more for raw products, which will be passed on to consumers. This is screwing us a lot more than it is hurting anybody else.
But then, the Liberal answer to pretty much anything is simply to impose more taxes. It’s all about appearances, and the media and opposition are not pointing out who this is really hurting.
A week or so ago, somebody here posted that a moral victory is just like an economic victory, except without the victory part.
Yep…
first timer: This is all about making sure the MID TERMS swing DEMOCRAT. The LIE brals have been lobbying different states to make sure NAFTA continues but also gets rid of Trump TRU dope is a UNWTO along with Obama and Soros….open borders. THE USA IS THEIR TARGET.
I think it remiss not to mention that Trudeau is not responsible for anything other than his scripted role as Canadian Prime Minister. Even in this limited capacity he struggles; most likely because he is pot addled,
The following clearly demonstrates the validity of this perspective.
https://youtu.be/oedaSfUU0vc
Always ask who is in charge of Canada. This guy isn’t.
My dad wanted to move our family to Canada i am glad my mom opposed it Your country is in a mess because of Liberal Policies