WSJ editorial board on Trump's trade war with Canada

The U.S. sources about two-thirds of its primary aluminum and 60% of scrap aluminum imports from Canada. Both are used by secondary U.S. aluminum manufacturers and fabricators, which oppose Mr. Trump’s tariffs.  They have a hard enough time competing against lower-cost producers in China and Turkey. 

Canada makes up a smaller share of U.S. steel consumption (about 6%).  But Mr. Trump’s tariffs will still raise costs for steel users that depend on Canadian supplies.  Hot-rolled coil steel prices are up a third since Mr. Trump took office because U.S. manufacturers like Cleveland-Cliffs and Nucor have raised prices in anticipation of tariffs.

Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said over the weekend that the President’s tariffs would make some foreign products more expensive but “American products will get cheaper.”  Huh?  Companies that use foreign components will have to raise prices or swallow narrower profit margins.  Does Mr. Lutnick understand, well, commerce? 

Domestic manufacturers that compete with foreign goods will raise their prices to take advantage of the protectionism to increase their margins.  A study in the American Economic Review found that consumers paid $817,000 for each new manufacturing job created by Mr. Trump’s washing machine tariffs in his first term. 

And Mr. Trump is only getting started as he prepares to take his trade war global.  He promised Tuesday to “substantially increase” tariffs on cars on April 2, which he said would “essentially, permanently shut down the automobile manufacturing business in Canada.”  So first he whacks U.S. auto makers with tariffs that raise their production costs, then he tries to shield them from foreign competition by whacking American consumers.

~ The editorial board, "How Do You Like the Trade War Now? Trump is furious that Canada won’t take his tariffs lying down.," The Wall Street Journal, March 12, 2025