More problems loom for Canadian steel, aluminum as Trump Administration threatens new tariffs

[Jan van Eck + 7,558]

More headaches for the Trudeau administrati8on and the provinces of Quebec, Ontario, and British Columbia, as the Trump Administration reacrts to petitions by two US aluminum smelters for penalty and exclusionary tariffs on Canadian Aluminum.  Canada has big smelter operations on the Saguenay River in Quebec, and in the Northern areas of B.C., where rivers provide cheap hydropower.  The process is at this point entirely politically driven, but has the Canadian manufacturers tied up in knots:

https://www.canadianmanufacturing.com/exporting-and-importing/tough-talk-tariff-threats-resurface-as-usmca-readies-for-its-debut-256070/

Who knows; maybe it all becomes a tale of sound and fury, signifying nothing.  But these things have this way of taking on a life of their own.  If the tariffs hit, Canada is once again headed for a world of hurt. 

[Enthalpic + 1,496]

Meh.

 

You correctly pointed out we can smelt Al cheaply due to excellent renewable energy.  Feel free not to buy high-quality metals from your nearest ally due to some geriatric lunacy.

Bring manufacturing back to the states?  Haha not without raw materials you should be processing into higher value goods.

https://tradingeconomics.com/united-states/balance-of-trade

"The US trade deficit widened to $54.6 billion in May of 2020 [] The deficit with China widened $1.9 billion to $27.9 billion"

 

Keep up the "good work" orange man... other much smarter people will buy, cut, bend, weld our metals for profit.  The less you buy from Canada the cheaper it becomes for your competition (S:D).

Edited July 7, 2020 by Enthalpic

[BradleyPNW + 282]

20 hours ago, Enthalpic said:

You correctly pointed out we can smelt Al cheaply due to excellent renewable energy.  Feel free not to buy high-quality metals from your nearest ally due to some geriatric lunacy.

jfc, the sooner Bunker Bitch is out the better. Nationalists are blind to comparative advantage. 

[Walter Faber + 48]

Now I do not know the entire history of these negotiations and maybe this is just some tactical manoeuvre or catering to the needs of small US voter group but on a society-as-a-whole level this seems like a very odd proposal. If you wan't to bring industry back to the USA you need access to cheap raw materials, so why drive internal prices up with tariffs? 
People far too often view trade as a zero-sum-game, when it in most cases benefits both sides. 

On a global level globalisation has given developing countries hard currency to acquire complex goods for modernisation, while allowing the richer countries to allocate their resources, most importantly working hours, to high value goods and services, as the developing countries take care of the standard stuff like clothing, consumer electronics assembly etc.

Edited July 9, 2020 by Walter Faber