Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick praises the UK and Mexico for not retaliating by blowing up Canada with “tone deaf” tariff response
- Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick shot in Canadasaid Trump’s response to tariffs on steel and aluminum was “deaf.” Canada imposed a multi-billion dollar mutual tariff on the US on Wednesday after a meeting with Rutnick.
Canada has responded proactively to the Trump administration’s recent tariffs, and Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick is not satisfied.
Prior to meetings with the Canadian coalition, including Finance Minister Dominique LeBlanc and the dull-talking Prime Minister Ontario, Lutonic blows up Canadian “tone and deaf” mutual tariffs.
Canada’s tariffs cover US steel and aluminum totaling $15.6 billion, reflecting US tariffs on metals. It also imposed tariffs on additional $14.2 billion worth of imported goods, including tools, computers, servers, display monitors and sports goods.
“We will put tariffs on steel and aluminum to make sure the world’s dumps are still on hold, allowing us to build steel and aluminum in the US. And what will Canada do? They put tariffs on sports goods,” he said. Interview with Bloomberg. “Really? This is just a tone deaf ear.”
The Secretary of Commerce said it was wide. 25% tariff “National Security” argues that in steel and aluminum imported to the US, domestically produced materials are necessary to make bullets and ammunition.
Lutnick denounced Canada. He said it “feeds” from the US and relies on protection while not contributing relatively to NATO. Canada contributed in 2024 $30.5 billionor about 1.37% of GDP contributed to the United States, compared to $967 billion, or 3.38% of GDP.
The Commerce Secretary argued that Wednesday’s tariffs were intended to ensure that the US is “treated fairly,” and that Canadian leaders have distorted future elections their actions. At the same time, Lutonic praised the Mexican and British approach.
“The British didn’t respond. The Mexicans didn’t respond. You have some countries that think carefully about how you actually do business with us. And you have people like Canadians who are elected,” he said.
The Canadian government called US tariffs “unfairly imposed” and threatened the possibility of further anti-load on civil servants’ southern neighbours press release on wednesday.
Premierford, Ontario was previously I was threatened “Completely shuts off electricity” to more than a million American homes and businesses relying on Canadian energy imports.
On Thursday, after a meeting with Lutnick, Ford said he felt temperatures between Canada and the US had dropped. Still, the tariffs in both countries remained intact.
After the “productive” meeting, Ford was the Canadian-US alliance. See you next week. The previous militant Ontario Premier also came out of the meeting, praise For Lutnick.
“Secretary Rutnick is a great business mind, a wise negotiator, and he is doing the right thing for his country. I am doing the right thing for my state and our country,” Ford said.
This story was originally introduced Fortune.com