Ottawa.- After the meeting, the Minister of Innovation, Navdeep Bains, stated that the government will do everything it can to protect the national producers, with whom they maintain close contacts in order to reach an agreement on the issue although he did not provide more details on the subject.
The head of the White House decreed a 25 percent tariff on steel imports and a 10 percent tariff on Canadian aluminum, citing reasons of national security, a decision that received immediate rejection by the Ottawa authorities.
Following that announcement, Trudeau retaliated against Washington's unilateral actions by proposing charges summing up over $ 16.6 billion to US exports and said he would sue that country through the North American Free Trade Agreement and the World Trade Organization.
According to official sources, Canada is the first supplier of steel to the United States and in 2017 sold to its southern neighbor about 84 percent of its exports of that metal, worth nine billion Canadian dollars.
The industry of this sector supports around 22, 000 direct jobs and supports 100 jobs indirectly, according to data from the Canadian Steel Production Association.
Since Trump came to power in January 2017, commercial ties between the two nations deteriorated, and in June of that year, Ottawa announced an aid of 867 million dollars for softwood producers affected by protectionist provisions of the head of the White House.
Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland said on Saturday that the Trudeau administration is studying a possible package of aid to steel and aluminum producers, which could be similar to the aforementioned support for wood sector businessmen after Washington imposed similar tariffs on them. (PL)
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