BCN-10 Canada will push US to ‘reconsider’ tariffs: minister

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BCN-10

CANADA-US-G7-ECONOMY-TRADE

Canada will push US to ‘reconsider’ tariffs: minister

WHISTLER, Canada, June 1, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – Canada and other key economies
will push Washington to reconsider its decision to impose harsh metals
tariffs on its allies, Finance Minister Bill Morneau said Thursday.

The world’s major economies were at the brink of trade war as Canadian and
European officials vowed Thursday to retaliate against the United States
after Washington said it would impose duties on steel and aluminum from
Canada, Mexico and the European Union after a two-months reprieve.

Canada is the largest exporter of aluminum to the United States while the
EU is the largest source of steel.

US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin is due to dine Thursday evening in
this Canadian mountain resort with his counterparts from the Group of Seven
top global economies.

Morneau told reporters he would seize the occasion to object to the
tariffs.

“Among friends sometimes you have disagreements. I’ll be stating very
clearly our disagreement with the actions they’ve taken,” Morneau told
reporters. “I have every expectation that our other allies around the table
will express the same sentiments.”

He said the finance officials will “try to encourage them to reconsider a
decision we think is not in anyone’s best interest.”

Washington’s multi-front confrontation has cast a pall over the G7 talks, a
traditional mainstay of trade liberalization.

Earlier Thursday participants defended free trade, and more or less
acknowledged that the meeting’s agenda had been entirely upended by
Washington’s latest assault on the prevailing global trade regime.

“At the end of the day, if trade is massively disrupted, if the level of
trust among economic actors is severely damaged, those who will suffer most
are the poorest people,” IMF chief Christine Lagarde said.

BSS/AFP/HR/0935