Canada Eyes New Quotas, Tariffs to Halt Flood of Diverted Steel – by Josh Wingrove (Bloomberg News – July 16, 2018)

https://www.bloomberg.com/

Canada is considering both quotas and tariffs to stop a spike in imports of foreign steel being diverted from the U.S. by Donald Trump’s trade policies, the industry minister said.

Navdeep Bains, speaking by phone from the Farnborough International Airshow, said Justin Trudeau’s government is weighing so-called safeguard measures to curb the influx of cheap foreign steel and could expand the list of products as needed. It previously identified three — energy tubular, steel plates and rebar — but the minister said that was only a first step.

“We did that based on the data and the information that we have” Bains said Monday. “That by no means is the final list so we’ll look at what option, either tariff or quotas, that we need.”

Canada is among the countries on the front lines of Trump’s trade fight, having imposed retaliatory tariffs on C$16.6 billion ($12.6 billion) worth of American goods after the U.S. imposed levies of 25 percent and 10 percent on steel and aluminum, respectively.

Canada is the top source of U.S. imports of both metals, and the world’s top buyer of U.S. goods. The northern nation has already taken steps to choke off any steel sneaking in for “transshipment” to the U.S., and safeguard quotas or tariffs would be the next step in that.

For the rest of this article: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-07-16/canada-eyes-new-quotas-tariffs-to-halt-flood-of-diverted-steel