It’s clear by now that anyone who thought that the son of NAFTA, dubbed USMCA, would bring an end to Donald Trump’s trade war was sadly mistaken.
The tariffs on steel and aluminum remain and now we learn that the Americans are trying to impose quotas on Canadian steel and aluminum into the United States.
That in itself is worrisome for Canada, but Trump’s protectionist tariffs are having a ripple effect that impacts Canada as well.
WATCH: Steel, aluminum tariffs still a concern for Canadian manufacturers and exporters: Darby
China and other steel producers that have also been hit with American tariffs are looking for markets to dump their steel that otherwise would have been shipped to America and Canada is a logical dumping ground for those products.
So now Canada has had to implement substantial tariffs and duty on foreign steel to protect the Canadian steel industry from an influx of foreign steel.
It’s an ugly economic mess that was started by and fueled by Trump’s wrongheaded obsession with tariffs.
Anyone with even a rudimentary grasp of economics knows that tariffs are harmful, not helpful to an economy, but once they’re imposed, all affected nations are sucked into a trade war vortex that could create dire consequences for the global economy.
Ironically, it may be American consumers that feel the pinch most of all.
As the price of consumer goods, everything from the cost of cars to the price of blue jeans at Walmart continues to rise, Americans will come to realize that Trump’s tariff war wasn’t such a good idea after all.
Bill Kelly is the host of the Bill Kelly Show on Global News Radio 900 CHML
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