Warns that higher tariffs on cars will "permanently shut down" car manufacturing in Canada.
US President Donald Trump announced on Tuesday that he will raise tariffs on steel and aluminum from Canada to 50% in a measure that will take effect on Wednesday and is in response to the Canadian province of Ontario's decision to raise the price of electricity sold to its neighboring country by 25%.
"In light of Ontario's imposition of a 25 percent tariff on electricity entering the United States, I have instructed my Secretary of Commerce (Howard Lutnick) to add an additional 25 percent tariff, up to 50 percent, on all steel and aluminum entering the United States from Canada," Trump said on his profile on Truth Social, his own social network.
The US president also announced that he would "shortly" declare a national emergency regarding electricity in the area "threatened" by this recent measure by the Ontario government, which will allow the United States "to quickly do what must be done to alleviate this abusive threat from Canada."
Along these lines, Trump has threatened to impose an extra battery of taxes on Canada if it does not withdraw its "atrocious tariffs", and has pointed directly to a "substantial increase" starting April 2 of the tax on cars entering the country. This measure is aimed at "permanently closing the business of automobile manufacturing in Canada".
Trump also denounced that the northern neighbour "pays very little" for its national security and "depends" on the United States for military matters, an issue for which Washington is "subsidising" Ottawa with "more than US$ 200 billion a year". "This cannot continue, the only thing that makes sense is for Canada to become our beloved 51st state," he said.
"This would make all tariffs and everything else go away completely. Canadians' taxes would be substantially reduced, they would be safer, militarily and otherwise, than ever before, there would be no problem at the northern border anymore, and the largest and most powerful nation in the world would be bigger, better and stronger than ever before, and Canada would be a part of that," he added.
To top it off, Trump has advocated erasing the "artificial line of separation drawn many years ago" between the United States and Canada, which would produce the "safest and most beautiful nation in the world," and the Canadian anthem would serve to represent "a great and powerful state within the greatest nation the world has ever seen."
