President Trump escalated his fight with Canada on Tuesday, saying that he would double tariffs on steel and aluminum imports and threatening to inflict even more pain on one of America’s closest traditional allies as he pressed Canada to become part of the United States.
His comments sent jittery markets tumbling, with the S&P 500 down about 1 percent in early morning trading.
In a post on his social media platform, Mr. Trump wrote that Canadian steel and aluminum would face a 50 percent tariff, double what he plans to charge on metals from other countries beginning Wednesday. He said the levies were in response to an additional charge that Ontario placed on electricity coming into the United States, and he threatened more tariffs if Canada didn’t drop various levies it imposes on U.S. dairy and agricultural products.
“If other egregious, long time Tariffs are not likewise dropped by Canada, I will substantially increase, on April 2nd, the Tariffs on Cars coming into the U.S. which will, essentially, permanently shut down the automobile manufacturing business in Canada,” he threatened.
Mr. Trump went on to say that “the only thing that makes sense” is for Canada to become the 51st U.S. state.
The moves will significantly escalate a confrontation with one of America’s largest trading partners, and call into question Mr. Trump’s intentions for one of its closest allies. Canadian officials first thought Mr. Trump’s idea of absorbing Canada into the United State was a joke, but they have more recently begun to take the president’s threats seriously.
Mr. Trump spent much of his social media post on Tuesday essentially cajoling Canada to become part of America, writing: “This would make all Tariffs, and everything else, totally disappear. Canadians taxes will be very substantially reduced, they will be more secure, militarily and otherwise, than ever before, there would no longer be a Northern Border problem, and the greatest and most powerful nation in the World will be bigger, better and stronger than ever — And Canada will be a big part of that.”
“The artificial line of separation drawn many years ago will finally disappear, and we will have the safest and most beautiful Nation anywhere in the World,” he added.
Last week, Mr. Trump hit Canada and Mexico with sweeping 25 percents on all imports, before walking some — but not all — of those levies back a few days later.
Mr. Trump said the higher metal tariffs on Canada would be a response to a surcharge on electricity it exports to the United States. On Monday, Ontario, Canada’s most populous province, retaliated against Mr. Trump’s tariffs by adding a 25 percent surcharge to the electricity it exports to Michigan, Minnesota and New York.
Canada is in the middle of a political transition as it prepares to swear in a new prime minister, Mark Carney, an economist and central banker, to replace Justin Trudeau, who announced in January that he would be resigning after almost 10 years in office. Mr. Trump’s move would punish the entire country for a retaliation measure taken on by one province.
Vjosa Isai and Danielle Kaye contributed reporting.
