President Donald Trump isn’t backing off on plans to levy billions of tariffs on steel and aluminum despite challenges from seven members of the World Trade Organization, The Hill reports.
China, India, Canada, Mexico, Norway, the European Union and Russia have all filed complaints, arguing the U.S. duties are inconsistent with provisions of the WTO’s General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade 1994 and the Agreement on Safeguards.
Trump is also considering a 20 percent tax on imported cars in the name of national security, and has tariffs on $200 billion in Chinese goods.
The EU, China, Mexico and Canada have all retaliated against the U.S. steel and aluminum tariffs of 25 percent and 10 percent, respectively, including Canada slapping the U.S. with a 25 percent tariff on steel and iron while hitting 250 other U.S. goods including maple syrup, dishwasher detergent, coffee beans and strawberry jam with a 10 percent penalty.
Canada is the United States’ second-biggest trading partner in goods, just behind China.
Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte on Monday said Trump’s tariffs against European goods were “not positive,” while Trudeau last month said he had “made it very clear to the president that it is not something we relish doing, but it is something that we absolutely will do, because Canadians, we’re polite, we’re reasonable, but we also will not be pushed around."
Trudeau’s comments, according to White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow, inspired Trump’s fury.
"To be honest with you, Prime Minister Trudeau, I respect. I've worked with him in good faith getting through a good communique on Friday and Saturday. So he holds a press conference — the president is barely out of there on the plane to North Korea, and he starts insulting us, he starts talking about the U.S. is insulting Canada," Kudlow said on CBS’ "Face the Nation" in June.
"In general, it was an attack on the president," Kudlow claimed.
Trump has said that allies such as the EU are “as bad as China” on trade.
“It’s terrible what they’re doing to us,” he said.
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