Trump doubles metal tariffs on Canada, threatens car industry with new levies

US President Donald Trump has announced that he will double metal tariffs on Canada and threatened to impose further levies on the country's automobile industry, intensifying the ongoing trade conflict between the two North American nations.

Trump revealed that starting the following day, the US would impose a 50 per cent tariff on all steel and aluminum imports from Canada. This move, according to Trump, is a direct retaliation for Ontario’s decision to impose a 25 per cent tariff on electricity coming into the US, Caliber.Az reports per foreign media.

The announcement sent shockwaves through global markets, prompting a broad sell-off. The FTSE 100 in London and the CAC 40 in Paris both fell by 1.3 per cent, while the DAX in Frankfurt plunged by the same amount.

On Wall Street, the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped as much as 1.4 per cent, and the S&P 500 fell by up to 1.2 per cent. In a statement on his Truth Social platform, Trump further escalated the rhetoric, calling for Canada to drop what he described as an "Anti-American Farmer Tariff" of 250 per cent to 390 per cent on various US dairy products, which he labeled as "outrageous." 

“I will shortly be declaring a National Emergency on Electricity within the threatened area. This will allow the US to quickly do what has to be done to alleviate this abusive threat from Canada,” Trump wrote.

The president also warned that if Canada does not remove other "egregious, long-time tariffs," he would increase tariffs on cars coming into the US on April 2, a move that he claimed would “permanently shut down the automobile manufacturing business in Canada.”

By Naila Huseynova