Surcharge “Trump” on the aluminum: “even a bad decision,” said Couillard

Photo Stevens LeBlanc
Passage to the microbrewery on The Strain, at Stoneham, the prime minister Philippe Couillard was also surprised to learn that the quebec microbrewery must now turn to the United States for a steady supply of aluminum cans, a solution which is, in principle, more green and less expensive than bottling.

Marc-André Gagnon

Thursday, 1 march 2018 15:59

UPDATE
Thursday, march 1, 2018 21:48

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STONEHAM | If it turns out that the surcharge of customs announced Thursday by Donald Trump also applies to the aluminium canadian, the consequences will also be negative, if not worse, for the Americans, warns the prime minister Philippe Couillard.

• READ ALSO: Trump will hit imports of steel and aluminum, significant taxes

In front of the producers of aluminium and steel together at the White House Thursday, the president, Trump has indicated that he will proceed, as early as next week, signed a decree imposing tariffs of 10 % on aluminum, and 25 % on steel from abroad.

“Our industries of steel and aluminum (and many others) have been decimated by decades of unfair trade and a bad policy with countries around the world,” said the american president via his Twitter account, while Philippe Couillard visited the facilities of the microbrewery in the region of Quebec.

“It is still a bad decision, one ill-advised decision of the Americans and that will hurt them, at least [as much] if not more, than we,” responded the prime minister of Québec, during a media scrum.

Photo Stevens LeBlanc

“Harmful to the u.s. economy”

For the time being, the White House has avoided specifying which countries will be covered by the new compensatory fees. The vast majority of the canadian production of aluminium is currently exported to the United States.

As was the case with the timber, where the Americans are found to pay higher prices to obtain the raw material, or with the aviation sector, where the protectionism of Boeing was made to promote one of its competitors, a surcharge on aluminium canadian will have an effect “harmful to the u.s. economy”, including for the defence industry, warns Mr. Couillard.

“There is almost no production in the United States, was recalled by Mr. Couillard. The problem of the aluminium market, this is not the Quebec, Canada: this is China. Therefore we do not address the real issue.”

Cans in quebec?

Passage to the microbrewery on The Strain, at Stoneham, the prime minister was also surprised to learn that the quebec microbrewery must now turn to the United States for a steady supply of aluminum cans, a solution which is, in principle, more green and less expensive than bottling.

Mr. Couillard has said wish to explore the possibility of facilitating the establishment, in Quebec, a plant that would manufacture, here, cans made of aluminum in québec.

“There is a project of transformation that interests me at least to explore”, said the prime minister.

“We produce aluminum in Quebec; it is sent to the United States; they are cans, and then they sell them [our microbrewers], but it is necessary that they purchase a minimum of $ 30,000, approximately, has exposed, Mr. Couillard. […] I think it is a good example of a situation where one would like to see more transformation in us, rather than send the primary metal somewhere else.”

A decision that made them react

“I promulguerai next week. And they [taxes] will be applied for a long time. “— Donald Trump

“Any tariff or quota that would be imposed on our industry in canada the steel and the aluminum would be unacceptable. “— François-Philippe Champagne, minister of international Trade

“The restrictions would be detrimental to the workers, to the industry and to the manufacturers of the both sides of the border. “— Asked by chrystia Freeland, minister of foreign Affairs

“If the United States hit their strategic ally, Canada, they are wrong to target and expose their economy to serious adverse effects, larger than the gains expected. “— Jean Simard, president and chief executive officer of the aluminum Association of Canada

“We will assert our importance in the supply chain, in the integrated chain of the automotive industry. “— Claudine Gagnon, director of media relations at Rio Tinto Canada