Canada trade minister attacks Trump duties, says Ottawa will resist tariffs

Arguing that the action would “do nothing to address the problem of global overcapacity,” François-Philippe Champagne said that US President Donald Trump’s Section 232 tariffs would harm American and Canadian producers whose integrated aluminium industries “don’t sell to each other, they make things together.”

Speaking at an aluminium summit in Montreal, Canada, Champagne stressed that the US decision was a breach of World Trade Organization and North American Free Trade Agreement rules. He said he wanted to ensure that the Canadian and US aluminium sectors work together to become an efficient North American unit that can “successfully compete with China and anyone else in the rest of the world.”

He said the Canadian government would press for compliance with a rule-based wold trade order, a message that it would take this week to the G7 summit.

“We will always have the backs of the industry and its workers,” Champagne told conference attendees.