Trudeau Says New US Steel, Aluminum Tariffs ‘Unacceptable,’ Response to Be ‘Firm’

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau speaks during a news conference Feb. 1, 2025, on Parliament Hill in Ottawa. Photo by Dave Chan / AFP

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Canada will try to convince the United States in the coming weeks that announced tariffs on steel and aluminum will cut both ways.

“We will be working with the American administration over the coming weeks to highlight the negative impacts on Americans and Canadians of these unacceptable tariffs,” Trudeau said on Feb. 11 while attending a summit on artificial intelligence in France.

U.S. President Donald Trump signed proclamations on Feb. 10 to impose 25 percent tariffs on all steel and aluminum imports, revoking previous exemptions granted to Canada and other countries. The tariffs are scheduled to kick in on March 12.

Trudeau said he hopes Canada won’t have to impose dollar-for-dollar retaliatory tariffs. He said, however, that work will be done with “international partners and friends” and a response will be “firm and clear” if necessary.

Canada is a major steel and aluminum supplier to the United States. Nearly 80 percent of U.S. aluminum imports came from Canada in 2024. Canada also doesn’t have other major export markets, with 92 percent of its aluminum products going to the United States in 2022.

Canada was also the largest supplier of steel to the United States in 2024, according to the American Iron and Steel Institute.

The prime minister will be visiting Belgium next, where he said he will discuss the new tariff developments with the European Union.

Trump recently said he will be imposing reciprocal tariffs on many countries this week. The United States has one of the lowest tariff average tariff rates in the world, according to the World Trade Organization.

The U.S. steel and aluminum decision came a week after Trump said he was pausing the imposition of broad 25 percent tariffs on Canada over border security concerns. A 30-pause was granted to assess measures put in place by Canada to counter fentanyl trafficking.

Second Round

Trump had imposed 25 percent tariffs on steel and 10 percent tariffs on aluminum from Canada during his first term in 2018. Canada responded with similar tariffs, while also targeting a long list of U.S. products with a 10 percent surtax.

The two countries came to an agreement to stop the trade dispute nearly a year later in May 2019, pledging to prevent the importation of “unfairly subsidized” steel and aluminum or the transshipment of these material made outside Canada or the United States.

Trump’s rationale for re-imposing tariffs is similar to that of the first round in 2018. He says the U.S. reliance on imports for the key manufacturing materials is a threat to national security. The U.S. president seeks to boost domestic production and create jobs.

The White House said granting the exemptions to Canada and others “inadvertently created loopholes that were exploited by China and others with excess steel and aluminum capacity, undermining the purpose of these exemptions.”

The Aluminum Association of Canada called the new tariffs “highly disruptive” in a Feb. 11 statement, saying Canadian aluminum is used by over 700,000 American workers to manufacture a range of products. The association also said the tariffs will drive prices higher and hurt Americans’ pocketbooks.

The association said Canada and the United States must maintain their cooperation and instead focus on “addressing the devastating impacts of unfair Chinese trading practices stemming from massive state subsidies on the entire aluminium ecosystem.”

Reuters contributed to this report.