While Canadian domestic producers will absorb the loss of U.S. business and find other customers, the U.S. will find it nearly impossible to replace its cheapest supplier, says Jean Simard, president and chief executive officer at Aluminum Association of Canada.

The U.S. depends on Canada for 75% of its imported primary aluminum, covering 60% of its yearly usage, reports BNN Bloomberg.

With 50% tariffs in place, he says American industries, not Canadian smelters, will bear the brunt of the financial pain, as U.S. manufacturers face soaring production costs.

Flavio Volpe, is the president of the Automotive Parts Manufacturers’ Association and a member of the Order of Canada:

Automotive supply chains are engineered around parts, plants and production schedules. An automaker cannot replace a Canadian supplier overnight because a post tells it to “build in the U.S.” That Canadian part is supporting an American-built vehicle and American jobs.

Remove it, and the line stops.

The Americans know this because they have tried it before. Last year, Washington announced 25 per cent Section 232 tariffs on imported automobiles and parts. When the duties were set to reach parts in May, the math overtook the rhetoric. USMCA-compliant automotive parts remained tariff-free.

That exemption was not a favour to Canada but American self-preservation.

Nicholas Spiro, a partner at Lauressa Advisory, a specialist London-based real estate and macroeconomic advisory firm, writes:

Last week’s breakdown in negotiations between the North American neighbours, which triggered the imposition of US tariffs of 50 per cent on a wide range of Canadian goods, showed the degree to which Trump’s trade policies are vindictive, politicised and self-defeating.

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