WASHINGTON (Sputnik) – Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said his country is taking action to protect its workers in the steel and aluminum industries to prevent transshipment and diversion of unfairly cheap products, a press release from the premier’s office said on Tuesday.
“Our businesses and workers rely on our integrated industries, and we will take strong action to defend and protect our most important trade relationships. Canada will not be used as a backdoor into other North American markets,” Trudeau said in the release.
Several new regulatory charges will be put into place after a 15-day consultation period through the Canada Gazette, the release said.
The Canadian Government also plans to strengthen enforcement at the border, meet more often with Mexico and the United States to discuss the solution to the problems in these industries, and start a new “federal-provincial-stakeholder committees” to monitor steel and aluminum trade to prevent it from hurting jobs in Canada and North America, the release added.
Canada already has imposed trade remedies against 17 steel products and 23 countries, according to the release.
Canada’s move follows March’s announcement by US President Donald Trump, declaring his decision to impose a 25-percent import tax on steel and 10-percent import tax on aluminum. The new tariffs are to be in place for an indefinite period of time, but the European Union and six other US allies — Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Mexico, and South Korea — were given a temporary exemption until May 1.
Sourse: sputniknews.com
