The brand new plan comes amid stalled commerce talks between Ottawa and Washington.
Printed On 26 Nov 2025
Canada will provide extra help to assist the metal and lumber industries cope with United States tariffs and create a home market, in addition to ramp up protections for metal and lumber staff.
Prime Minister Mark Carney outlined the brand new plan on Wednesday in a information convention.
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Ottawa will scale back the quota for metal imports from nations that shouldn’t have a free commerce settlement with Canada to twenty p.c from 50 p.c of 2024 ranges, Carney mentioned.
Nations with a free commerce settlement (FTA) with Canada will see their quotas reduce to 75 p.c from one hundred pc of the 2024 degree. This doesn’t embody the US and Mexico, that are certain by the United States-Canada-Mexico free commerce deal.
Canada may also impose a world 25 p.c tariff on focused imported steel-derivative merchandise, and incorporate border measures to fight metal dumping.
In July, Ottawa set a quota of metal imports at 50 p.c of the 2024 degree from non-FTA nations in a bid to cease the dumping of international metal into Canada.
The measures are being tightened to open up the home marketplace for Canadian-produced metal, mentioned a authorities official.
The metal trade contributes greater than 4 billion Canadian {dollars} ($2.8bn) to Canada’s gross home product (GDP) and employs greater than 23,000 folks immediately. It’s, nonetheless, one of many two sectors hit hardest by US President Donald Trump’s 50 p.c tariffs on metal imports from Canada.
Trump has imposed 50 p.c tariffs on metal, and softwood lumber, lengthy topic to US tariffs, is at the moment taxed at 45 p.c after the Trump administration’s hike final month.
Carney mentioned the decades-long technique of an ever-closer financial relationship between Canada and the US is now over.
“As a consequence, a lot of our strengths have grow to be vulnerabilities. Final yr, greater than 75 p.c of our exports went to america. Ninety p.c of our lumber exports, 90 p.c of our aluminium exports, and 90 p.c of our metal exports, all certain for a single market,” Carney mentioned.
Ottawa will work with railway corporations to chop freight charges for the inter-provincial switch of Canadian metal and lumber by 50 p.c, starting in early 2026.
“We’ll make it extra inexpensive to move Canadian metal and lumber throughout the nation by slicing freight charges,” Carney mentioned.
The federal government mentioned it might additionally help using domestically made metal and lumber in homebuilding, and monetary support for corporations coping with tariff-related impacts, similar to on their workforce, liquidity crunch, and for restructuring operations.
Trump tensions
Trump reduce off commerce talks with Canada final month after the Ontario provincial authorities ran tv commercials in US markets that criticised Trump’s tariffs by citing a speech by former US President Ronald Reagan.
Carney mentioned he can be in Washington for the ultimate draw on December 5 for the FIFA World Cup 2026 match. He mentioned he would converse to Trump then and mentioned he spoke briefly to the president on Tuesday.
“We’re able to re-engage on these talks when america desires to re-engage,” Carney mentioned.
Carney’s announcement comes at the same time as there may be elevated strain on US companies reeling from Trump’s tariffs.
Deere & Co, the maker of John Deere tractors, mentioned on Wednesday that it expects a much bigger hit from tariffs in 2026. The corporate expects a pre-tax tariff hit of round $1.2bn in fiscal 2026, in contrast with practically $600m in 2025.
