OTTAWA —
U.S. President Donald Trump is imposing a new 10 per cent tariff on Canadian aluminum imports that is set to imminently come into effect.
In announcing the new trade action at an event in Ohio, Trump said that: “Canada was taking advantage of us, as usual.”
The federal government was informed by the U.S. administration that the new tariff was coming, and will apply to unprocessed Canadian aluminum.
Trump claimed on Thursday that the American aluminum business has been “decimated” by Canada, calling it “very unfair” and accusing Canadian producers of flooding the U.S. with exports.
He also said that the new tariffs are “absolutely necessary,” and pledged he will “always put American workers first,” and use all tools at his disposal—including tariffs—to do that.
The United States had been considering whether to slap tariffs on aluminum imports coming from Canada, under Section 232 of the U.S. Trade Expansion Act, unless Canada agreed to restrict its export volumes through quotas.
Responding to the initial threat, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said that the U.S. “needs Canadian aluminum,” as it does not produce enough to fill its domestic manufacturing needs.
“If they put tariffs on Canadian aluminum, they’re simply increasing the costs of inputs, necessary inputs, to their manufacturing base which will hurt the American economy. Again, we see that our economies are so interlinked that punitive actions by the United States administration end up hurting Americans the same way they end up hurting Canadians,” Trudeau said back in June.
Trudeau has yet to comment on the re-opening of this trade rift between Canada and the U.S.
Reacting to the late-in-the-day news, several Conservative MPs issued a joint statement saying Trudeau has “once again let down” thousands of Canadian aluminum workers.
“The U.S. administration has been foreshadowing new tariffs on Canadian aluminum for weeks, so why didn’t the Trudeau government take action to protect Canadian workers?” reads the joint statement.
“The aluminum sector is vital to the Canadian economy. It’s essential that this industry thrive, especially during COVID-19,” said the Conservative MPs.
In a statement, NDP MP and the party’s international trade critic Daniel Blaikie said his thoughts were with the aluminum workers who will be hurt by Trump’s “electioneering” and the lack of Liberal action at home. He is calling for a federal plan to help protect Canadian aluminum jobs.
The Canadian Chamber of Commerce is condemning the U.S. move., saying the tariffs will “only exacerbate disruptions to North American supply chains.”
In a statement the Chamber’s Senior Director of International Trade Mark Agnew said that Canadian aluminum exports pose “absolutely no national security threat” and the move is just as wrong as it was when it was tried by Trump in 2018.
NOT THE FIRST TIME
Trump hit Canada with steel and aluminum tariffs in May 2018, during negotiations for the new NAFTA deal. The tariffs remained in place for a year, during which time Canada reciprocated with dollar-for-dollar countermeasures on American steel, aluminum, as well as levelling a surtax on other goods.
A year later, Canada and the U.S. issued a joint statement announcing a decision to lift the tariffs, confirming that the two nations also agreed to terminate World Trade Organization litigation Canada launched after slamming the U.S. tariffs as “punitive” and “an affront” to Canada-U.S. relations.
The new NAFTA came into effect on July 1, meaning this latest American trade action comes just over a month into the new deal.
WILL CANADA RETALIATE?
The largest private sector union has called on Trudeau to “stand firm” against the prospect of the re-imposition of tariffs and has suggested that Canada should retaliate.
Unifor National President Jerry Dias has previously called the prospective tariffs “totally unwarranted.”
Speaking to the prospect of the tariffs, Unifor National President Jerry Dias has called the prospective tariffs “totally unwarranted.”
Dias has said that the arguments that American steel producers are making to the Trump administration about the need for intervention — including that a surge in Canadian aluminum imports is causing aluminum prices to collapse — are “preposterous and utterly divorced from reality,” because globally, due to COVID-19, demand for metal has gone down and that’s led to the declining prices.
The Conservatives are now calling for immediate retaliation to “send a clear message to the U.S. that we will not restrict our exports.”
Industry representatives are calling on Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland to begin consulting the business community on what the government’s retaliatory response will be.
CALGARY – TC Energy Corp. has lowered the estimated cost of its Southeast Gateway pipeline project in Mexico.
It says it now expects the project to cost between US$3.9 billion and US$4.1 billion compared with its original estimate of US$4.5 billion.
The change came as the company reported a third-quarter profit attributable to common shareholders of C$1.46 billion or $1.40 per share compared with a loss of C$197 million or 19 cents per share in the same quarter last year.
Revenue for the quarter ended Sept. 30 totalled C$4.08 billion, up from C$3.94 billion in the third quarter of 2023.
TC Energy says its comparable earnings for its latest quarter amounted to C$1.03 per share compared with C$1.00 per share a year earlier.
The average analyst estimate had been for a profit of 95 cents per share, according to LSEG Data & Analytics.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 7, 2024.
BCE Inc. reported a loss in its latest quarter as it recorded $2.11 billion in asset impairment charges, mainly related to Bell Media’s TV and radio properties.
The company says its net loss attributable to common shareholders amounted to $1.24 billion or $1.36 per share for the quarter ended Sept. 30 compared with a profit of $640 million or 70 cents per share a year earlier.
On an adjusted basis, BCE says it earned 75 cents per share in its latest quarter compared with an adjusted profit of 81 cents per share in the same quarter last year.
“Bell’s results for the third quarter demonstrate that we are disciplined in our pursuit of profitable growth in an intensely competitive environment,” BCE chief executive Mirko Bibic said in a statement.
“Our focus this quarter, and throughout 2024, has been to attract higher-margin subscribers and reduce costs to help offset short-term revenue impacts from sustained competitive pricing pressures, slow economic growth and a media advertising market that is in transition.”
Operating revenue for the quarter totalled $5.97 billion, down from $6.08 billion in its third quarter of 2023.
BCE also said it now expects its revenue for 2024 to fall about 1.5 per cent compared with earlier guidance for an increase of zero to four per cent.
The company says the change comes as it faces lower-than-anticipated wireless product revenue and sustained pressure on wireless prices.
BCE added 33,111 net postpaid mobile phone subscribers, down 76.8 per cent from the same period last year, which was the company’s second-best performance on the metric since 2010.
It says the drop was driven by higher customer churn — a measure of subscribers who cancelled their service — amid greater competitive activity and promotional offer intensity. BCE’s monthly churn rate for the category was 1.28 per cent, up from 1.1 per cent during its previous third quarter.
The company also saw 11.6 per cent fewer gross subscriber activations “due to more targeted promotional offers and mobile device discounting compared to last year.”
Bell’s wireless mobile phone average revenue per user was $58.26, down 3.4 per cent from $60.28 in the third quarter of the prior year.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 7, 2024.
TORONTO – Canada Goose Holdings Inc. trimmed its financial guidance as it reported its second-quarter revenue fell compared with a year ago.
The luxury clothing company says revenue for the quarter ended Sept. 29 totalled $267.8 million, down from $281.1 million in the same quarter last year.
Net income attributable to shareholders amounted to $5.4 million or six cents per diluted share, up from $3.9 million or four cents per diluted share a year earlier.
On an adjusted basis, Canada Goose says it earned five cents per diluted share in its latest quarter compared with an adjusted profit of 16 cents per diluted share a year earlier.
In its outlook, Canada Goose says it now expects total revenue for its full financial year to show a low-single-digit percentage decrease to low-single-digit percentage increase compared with earlier guidance for a low-single-digit increase.
It also says it now expects its adjusted net income per diluted share to show a mid-single-digit percentage increase compared with earlier guidance for a percentage increase in the mid-teens.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 7, 2024.
