Trump takes aim at Canada as US protest his tariffs

WASHINGTON (AP):

Already under fire for his combative trade policies, United States (US) President Donald Trump yesterday intensified pressure on Canada, demanding that America's neighbour and close ally "open their markets and take down trade barriers".

Trump's tweet came a day after he ignited global condemnation by imposing tariffs on steel and aluminium imports from Canada and two other key US allies - the European Union and Mexico.

The US had sought to use the tariff threat as a cudgel to win concessions from Canada and Mexico in talks to renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). But the NAFTA talks sputtered anyway, and the Trump administration imposed the tariffs at midnight Thursday.

The president took to Twitter yesterday to accuse Canada of treating US "farmers very poorly for a long period of time".

And he repeated his inaccurate claim that Canada runs a trade surplus with the United States. In fact, US Commerce Department numbers show that, the United States has recorded a trade surplus with Canada for each of the past three years.

Trump's antagonistic trade policies - and specifically the steel and aluminium tariffs - drew international denunciation. French President Emmanuel Macron said yesterday that he told Trump in a phone call that the new US tariffs on European, Mexican and Canadian goods were illegal and a "mistake".

And Macron pledged that the retaliation would be "firm" and "proportionate" and in line with World Trade Organization rules.

Germany's Volkswagen, Europe's largest automaker, warned that the decision could start a trade war that no side would win.

The European Union and China said they will deepen ties on trade and investment as a result.

"This is stupid it's counterproductive," Francis Maude, a former British trade minister, told the BBC. "Any government that embarks on a protectionist path inflicts the most damage on itself."

Trump's move makes good on his campaign vows to crack down on trading partners that he claims exploit poorly negotiated trade agreements to run up big trade surpluses with the United States.

The tariffs his administration has imposed - 25 per cent on imported steel and 10 per cent on aluminium from Canada, Mexico and the European Union threaten to drive up prices for American consumers and companies and heighten uncertainty for businesses and investors around the globe.