That did not last long. The new trade contract between Canada, the United States and Mexico was barely a month old when President Trump, during a tour of a Whirlpool equipment factory, announced that he had again set tariffs on aluminum from Canada.
Canada, in turn, will impose tariff rates on Sunday against a wide variety of aluminum-made items in the United States, although there is no sign that the countermeasure will require a retreat by Mr. Trump.
Last week, many readers of Canada Letter emailed questions about the president’s latest move, and several brought scary advice about it.
I put some of your questions to Chad P. Brown, an economist and trade analyst at the Peterson Institute for International Economics in Washington. Our conversation has been edited for length and clarity.
Should Canadians take this collective personally?
Maybe yes, if you want to feel like you should be special and not be abused this way. But if you want, “We just have to be treated like everyone else,” well, you are not treated any better, no less than other countries.
There are good arguments that you should be treated better. But unfortunately, this is the approach of the Trump administration.
What is behind this movement?
Are there any major political gains for President Trump who will sign up until November on picking on Canada? It’s hard to see how that would be.
If there’s anything left, it’s a way to differentiate himself [former] Vice President Biden. Joe Biden has indicated he would work more closely with allies on trade issues.
There are certainly political gains to be made in choosing China, to be seen as difficult on China.
The underlying trade problem with aluminum is Chinese overcapacity.
That being said, there is nothing in the trade agreement between the Trump administration and China that addresses the subsidy issue.
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A Canadian-Muslim nurse in Montreal with Pakistani roots is leading a campaign to remove the name Lionel Groulx from a subway station, reports Dan Bilefsky. The polarizing Roman Catholic recognized the rights of Francophone Quebecers, but also jumped for virulent anti-Semitism and fascist sympathies. The proposal for the new name of the subway stop is Oscar Peterson, the Montreal born jazz virtuoso.
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Quitters coffee shop in Stittsville, Ontario, is a regular stop for many cyclists in the Ottawa area, including me. Lindsay Zoladz tells the story of how Kathleen Edwards gave music to open it in 2014 and why Mrs. Edwards released her first album in eight years on Friday.
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Iman Elman was born into a family of leading peace and human rights activists in the Somali capital, Mogadishu, but grew up in Ottawa. Now she is back in Somalia and, as a lieutenant colonel, she is in charge of planning and strategy for his army.
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Brent Carver, the actor and singer who won a Tony Award for his lead role in the musical “Kiss of the Spider Woman” from 1993, died at the age of 68 at his home in Cranbrook, British Columbia. He also had an impressive theater career in Canada, including nine seasons at the Stratford Festival.
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Placing the NHL playoffs in bubbles in Toronto and Edmonton has increased the fight against the ice. Curtis Rush and Carol Schram report from two playoff cities that rest is more important now than ever and that players hide injuries from opponents staying in the same hotel. And Morgan Campbell reports how hockey, which has been plagued by acts of bigotry, campaigns include Black Lives Matter.
A Windsor, Ontario resident, Ian Austen was raised in Toronto, lives in Ottawa and has been reporting on Canada for The New York Times for the past 16 years. Follow him on Twitter at @ianrausten.
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