Canadian trade ministers in Minnesota to discuss Trump tariff impacts
MINNEAPOLIS — Late Monday night, President Trump announced 25% tariffs on all steel and aluminum imports. Brazil, Canada, Mexico and South Korea will all be affected.
The tariffs will start March 12 with no exceptions or exemptions. Those tariffs might only be the start, too.
Tuesday in Minneapolis, Canadian ministers met with local business leaders to discuss issues related to the now-delayed 25% tariffs on all imports from Canada and Mexico.
Feb. 1 was supposed to be the day when the U.S. imposed 25% tariffs on all Canadian imports, except for energy, which would’ve been 10%.
Delaying those tariffs by a month though hasn’t alleviated any of the worries about what this could mean for Minnesota and its biggest trading partner.
Minnesota’s businesses and consumers buy a lot from Canada, both finished and raw materials. Just how much? About $14 billion — and almost two-thirds of that is energy from crude oil, natural gas and electricity. After that, we’re talking all kinds of agriculture like grains and heavy machinery for farming equipment.
Trade ministers and Minnesota business leaders had a shared message Tuesday at the Consulate General of Canada’s office in Minneapolis: We need you.
“Even though tariffs are initiated by the U.S. administration, unfortunately there’s probably going to be a retaliatory tariff that’s provided by the Canadian government,” said Warren Kaeding, Saskatchewan’s minister of trade and export development. “And so that’s just going to affect more goods that are flowing back and forth across the border. And so that also needs to, that story needs to be told as well.”
The tariff threat, though, is instilling enough fear that it has forced both sides to the negotiating table with the hope of bringing some positive change, especially on the border.
