Steel and Aluminum Tariffs Ending – What you need to know

On May 17, the federal Canadian government announced that all United States Section 232 and Canadian tariffs on steel (25%) and aluminium (10%) will end by Monday, May 19, 2019.  This is good news for North American manufacturing as both the Canadian and US governments work toward ratifying a trade agreement, the one certainty we have is that it signals a further commitment to streamlining and stabilizing commerce between nations in metal manufacturing industries.

Here is what was agreed upon:

• The United States and Canada agreed to eliminate, by May 20th, all tariffs the United States imposed under Section 232 on imports of aluminium and steel products from Canada; and all tariffs Canada imposed in retaliation for the Section 232 action taken by the United States,
• The United States and Canada agreed to terminate all pending litigation between them in the World Trade Organization regarding the Section 232 action,
• The United States and Canada will implement measures to prevent transhipment, dumping, or importation of unfairly subsidized steel and aluminium,
• The United States and Canada will work together to monitor surges in steel and aluminium imports before applying tariffs again.

Government efforts to mitigate this tariff included support programs for manufacturer’s and no details were provided with regards to the programs put in place in reaction to the tariffs being levied.

As always, Acculift works to bring the best possible pricing by working with our suppliers to monitor and adjust ordering methodology to provide the best value to our customers. We’d like to thank CME Manitoba for their ongoing advocacy and education on behalf of manufacturers concerning metal tariffs.

Here is the official federal government statement on Steel and Aluminium tariffs.