Metal producers see relief in tariff dodge but grapple with unknowns
CALGARY — Canadian steel and aluminum producers have dodged U.S. President Donald Trump’s global tariffs but the industry says it continues to grapple with the uncertainty the debate has created.
The indefinite exemption announced Thursday on the 10 per cent aluminum and 25 per cent steel tariffs is a reprieve, said Aluminium Association of Canada president Jean Simard, but the whole affair has created too many unknowns to attract new investment.
“There’s enough uncertainty to hinder any potential expansion project, because you know, you don’t predicate billions of dollars of investment on expansions when you don’t know what’s hanging out there in the future.”
Getting a permanent exemption is the priority for now, but Simard is also concerned about how the tariffs that apply to all other countries but Mexico will affect users of the products in the U.S. market.