- Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick took a shot at Canada, saying its response to Trump tariffs on steel and aluminum was “tone deaf.” On Wednesday, Canada imposed billions of dollars of reciprocal tariffs on the U.S. After a meeting with Lutnick, Ontario Premier Doug Ford said the temperature had come down between the two countries.
Canada responded aggressively to the Trump administration’s recent tariffs, and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick is not pleased.
Ahead of a meeting with a Canadian coalition, including Finance Minister Dominic LeBlanc and blunt-speaking Ontario Premier Thursday, Lutnick blasted Canada’s “tone deaf” reciprocal tariffs on the U.S.
Canada’s tariffs target a combined $15.6 billion dollars worth of U.S. steel and aluminum, mirroring the U.S tariffs on metals. It also imposed a tariff on an additional $14.2 billion worth of imported goods such as tools, computers and servers, display monitors, and sports equipment.
“We put a tariff on steel and aluminum to make sure the dumping countries of the world stop and we can build up our steel and aluminum in America. And what does Canada do? They put a tariff on sports equipment,” he said in an interview with Bloomberg. “I mean really? This is just tone deaf.”
The commerce secretary said that the broad 25% tariff on any steel and aluminum imported into the U.S. was necessary for “national security,” arguing that the domestically produced materials are necessary to make bullets and munitions.
Lutnick lambasted Canada because he said it “feeds” off the U.S. and relies on it for protection while contributing relatively little to NATO. In 2024, Canada contributed about $30.5 billion, or about 1.37% of its GDP, to the military alliance, compared to the $967 billion, or 3.38% of GDP, the U.S. contributed.
The commerce secretary insisted that Wednesday’s tariffs were meant to make sure the U.S. is “treated fairly,” and alleged that Canadian leaders had let upcoming elections skew their actions. At the same time, Lutnick praised the approach of Mexico and the U.K., which have largely stopped short of retaliating against U.S. tariffs.
“The British didn’t respond, the Mexicans didn’t respond, you have some countries that actually thoughtfully examine how they do business with us. And then you have people like the Canadians who are in elections,” he said.
The Canadian government called the U.S. tariffs “unjustifiably imposed” and threatened the possibility of further counter-tariffs against its southern neighbor in an official press release on Wednesday.
Ontario Premier Ford has previously threatened to “shut the electricity off completely,” to the more than 1 million U.S. homes and businesses that rely on Canadian energy imports.
On Thursday, following the meeting with Lutnick, Ford said he felt like the temperature between Canada and the U.S. had come down. Still, both countries’ tariffs remained in place.
After a “productive” meeting, Ford said the Canadian and American coalitions would meet again next week. The previously combative Ontario premier also came out of the meeting with nothing but praise for Lutnick.
“Secretary Lutnick is a brilliant business mind, a shrewd negotiator, and he’s doing what’s right for his country and I’m doing what’s right for my province and in turn our country,” Ford said.
This story was originally featured on Fortune.com
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