US steel tariffs are taking a much bigger bite out of Canada than China

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US steel tariffs are taking a much bigger bite out of Canada than China | The Post Millennial

It may be strange that Canada, is being slammed much harder by US steel tariffs than China, the original cause for the tariffs.

A percentage of foreign steel imports to the US are being exempt from tariffs. Unfortunately, Canada received the short end of the stick.

China currently receives an exemption from tariffs on approximately 40% of their steel shipments and on a staggering 86% of aluminum imports.

Meanwhile, Canada is only exempt from tariffs on 2% of their steel imports and less than 1% on their aluminum imports.

Trump began these tariffs in order to combat China's unfair trading policies.

But now they're giving China some of the largest exemptions.

It's very clear that the process in which the US is approving these exemptions is flawed.

It's hurting us in North America while not fulfilling it's intended purpose of hurting China.

Impact on Jobs

According to Connect2Canada the US could face up to a loss of 400 000 jobs due to their steel and aluminum tariffs.

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The number of jobs lost for the US could get even worse.

All due to the $16.6 billion dollars worth of tariffs that Canada slammed on the US in retaliation.

This data furthers the disconnect between the purpose of the US tariffs and the reality of the situation, and what's at stake.

And the US isn't the only stranger to job loss or the eminent threat of it.

According to The Globe and Mail about 6000 jobs will be lost in Canada as a result of the US tariffs.

Clearly this is a lose-lose situation for all parties involved except for the profiteers of the steel industry in the US.

There is still a large majority of Canadian exclusion applications that are currently pending approval.

Just over 60% of steel applications are pending and 97% of aluminum applications are pending.

Once the bureaucratic backlog is cleared here we may see some more favourable exemption percentages for Canada.

Canada's government is also still hard at work lobbying the US for less intrusive tariffs.

Canadians can only hope for this backlog to clear quickly so they may stem the bleeding that these tariffs have caused.

For now, China will continue to receive more exclusions while Canadians continue to be cheated by our closest allies.