{"id":214802,"date":"2019-05-18T03:41:44","date_gmt":"2019-05-18T07:41:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=214802"},"modified":"2019-05-18T03:41:44","modified_gmt":"2019-05-18T07:41:44","slug":"industry-economists-weigh-in-on-lifting-of-tariffs-on-canadian-steel-aluminum","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2019\/05\/18\/industry-economists-weigh-in-on-lifting-of-tariffs-on-canadian-steel-aluminum\/","title":{"rendered":"Industry, economists weigh in on lifting of tariffs on Canadian steel, aluminum"},"content":{"rendered":"
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But the agreement by the two countries to work together to prevent cheap imports\u00a0of\u00a0the metals from entering North America prompted one group to call for stronger measures to protect Canadian steel. (Pexels Photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

TORONTO \u2014 The lifting\u00a0of\u00a0U.S. tariffs on imported steel and aluminum from Canada received a positive but guarded welcome from industry, which hoped it could lead to a speedy ratification\u00a0of\u00a0the pending U.S.-Mexico-Canada agreement.<\/p>\n

But the agreement by the two countries to work together to prevent cheap imports\u00a0of\u00a0the metals from entering North America prompted one group to call for stronger measures to protect Canadian steel.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe’re in a better position today than we were yesterday, but I would say that … we’re not completely out\u00a0of\u00a0the woods,\u201d said Mark Warner, a Canadian and American trade lawyer.<\/p>\n

The lifting\u00a0of\u00a0a 25 per cent tariff on steel and a 10 per cent tariff on aluminum from Canada by the U.S. Trump administration will take place within two days\u00a0of\u00a0Friday’s announcement.<\/p>\n

But \u201cthe devil’s in the details,\u201d said Warner.<\/p>\n

The U.S. and Canada said in a joint statement that they would work to prevent cheap imports\u00a0of\u00a0both products from entering North America \u2014 a provision appearing to target China. The Asian country has long been accused\u00a0of\u00a0flooding world markets with subsidized metal, driving down world prices and hurting U.S. producers.<\/p>\n

America can reimpose the tariffs if there’s a surge\u00a0of\u00a0the products beyond historical norms.<\/p>\n

The United Steelworkers’ national director Ken Neumann called the removal \u201cgood news\u201d in a statement but called for stronger measures to protect Canadian steel.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur steel sector and our workers are still at risk from predatory practices\u00a0of\u00a0foreign producers who flout fair trade rules and who are now shut out\u00a0of\u00a0other markets,\u201d he said. \u201cIt is critical that the federal government impose measures to stabilize our market and defend Canada’s steel sector from these destructive practices.\u201d<\/p>\n

The organization, which represents 1.2 million workers and retirees in the U.S., Canada and the Caribbean, is waiting to learn more details and \u201cdetermine the merits and efficacy\u00a0of\u00a0monitoring mechanisms intended to address potential surges\u00a0of\u00a0steel dumping from countries including China, Turkey and India.<\/p>\n

The Canadian Labour Congress said it continues to support \u201ccareful monitoring and robust anti-dumping measures to counter trade diversion.\u201d<\/p>\n

President Hassan Yussuff said in a statement that the dispute resolution \u201cis a reminder\u00a0of\u00a0the importance\u00a0of\u00a0Canada maintaining a strong trade remedy system and vigilance against unfair competition so that dumped and subsidized steel from China and elsewhere are not directed through the Canadian economy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Until we see how those rules are going to be interpreted and enforced, said Warner, we won’t know exactly the impact \u2014 though it’ll like take some time for investment to pour back into the sector.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think that there’s still going to be a chilling effect on investment.\u201d<\/p>\n

Canadian exporters will face new complexity because\u00a0of\u00a0the need to track the origins\u00a0of\u00a0the steel and aluminum they use \u2014 a measure to prevent foreign metal from flowing through Canada to the United States, wrote CIBC Capital Markets analysts Benjamin Tal and Katherine Judge in a note.<\/p>\n

The chief executive\u00a0of\u00a0the Canadian Manufacturers and Exporters Association acknowledged in an interview that the new deal will cause additional complexity but said it’s an acceptable price to get rid\u00a0of\u00a0the U.S. tariffs and Canada’s retaliatory tariffs.<\/p>\n

\u201cBecause all\u00a0of\u00a0those were bad for Canadian businesses (and) bad for U.S. businesses. So we’re very pleased they were able to reach an agreement,\u201d said Dennis Darby, CME’s president and CEO.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhile there’ll be some challenges…in the long term it will be a better outcome for Canada and for North America.\u201d<\/p>\n

Darby added that the CME is hopeful that removing the tariffs will pave the way to implementing the USMCA that \u201cmany\u00a0of\u00a0us worked very long and hard on.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Aluminum Association\u00a0of\u00a0Canada echoed that hope.<\/p>\n

The group’s president Jean Simard said in a statement that the decision enables the full realization\u00a0of\u00a0the potential\u00a0of\u00a0the new trilateral agreement.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt’s time to turn the page and redouble our efforts to ensure the full development\u00a0of\u00a0the North-American aluminum value chain,\u201d he said, adding Canadian politicians should unanimously support ratifying the agreement before the House adjourns next month.<\/p>\n

The Canadian Vehicle Manufacturers’ Association said it is hopeful the decision will encourage continued progress toward the agreement.<\/p>\n

\u201cResolving this trade issue is very important to the competitiveness\u00a0of\u00a0the Canadian automotive manufacturing industry and its suppliers,\u201d said president Mark Nantais in a statement.<\/p>\n

Shares\u00a0of\u00a0Ontario-based Stelco Holdings Inc. got a boost in response to news\u00a0of\u00a0the agreement.<\/p>\n

The Canadian steel producer’s shares surged to $17.66 Friday before closing at $17.09, up 11.55 per cent from Thursday’s closing price.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have a tremendous amount\u00a0of\u00a0praise, really, for this government,\u201d said Alan Kestenbaum, executive chairman\u00a0of\u00a0Stelco. \u201cFrom the beginning, since this happened they put on the retaliatory tariffs, they took a firm position, and they enabled us to thrive in this market.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

TORONTO \u2014 The lifting\u00a0of\u00a0U.S. tariffs on imported steel and aluminum from Canada received a positive but guarded welcome from industry, …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":186058,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18,16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-214802","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news-ca","category-news","mauthors-the-canadian-press"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/214802","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/44"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=214802"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/214802\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":214803,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/214802\/revisions\/214803"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/186058"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=214802"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=214802"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=214802"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}