Canada initiates WTO dispute complaint on US steel, aluminum duties

Canada has requested WTO dispute consultations with the US over its imposition of import duties on certain steel and aluminum products from Canada, the trade body said on Thursday.

The request was circulated to World Trade Organization members on Thursday, it said.

Canada says the measures, which end Canada’s exemption from additional duties on some steel and aluminum products and increase duties on aluminum articles and which took effect on Wednesday, are inconsistent with US obligations under the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) 1994, the WTO said in a statement.

US President Donald Trump, speaking to reporters in the Oval Office on Thursday, suggested he was not going to change his mind on tariffs.

“We’ve been ripped off for years and we’re not going to be ripped off anymore. I’m not going to bend at all, aluminum or steel or cars,” he said.

The move follows a separate request by Canada on March 5 for consultations with the United States after Trump’s new 25% tariffs on imports from Canada and Mexico took effect, along with new duties on Chinese goods.

Trump has declared that the top three US trading partners had failed to do enough to stem the flow of fentanyl and its precursor chemicals into the United States.

(By Madeline Chambers and Olivia Le Poidevin; Editing by Thomas Seythal and Angus MacSwan)

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