Hockey sticks, cement and non-alcoholic beverages among exports to be targeted by U.S. tariffs

[00:00:00]Well, US President Donald Trump says he's planning to impose new 50% tariffs on most Canadian goods in about 30 days time.

[00:00:06]>> As CTV's Mike LeCouteur joins us live from Ottawa with the latest reaction from Canadian officials. Mike, good to see you. Good morning. Is there any clarity on what products exactly this will hit? We talked about hockey sticks, cement, uh non-alcoholic beverages, apparently.

[00:00:24]>> Yeah, there are some alcoholic beverages as well. This is a long list. They talk about beer made with malt, also sparkling wine uh made in Canada, and cider as well. Interesting to note though, when you consider some of the reaction from Canadian producers, the BC wine producers specifically, they kind of noted that the amount that they do trade with the United States or export to the United States is not that significant. So, while this will hurt their bottom line, it's not something that will really them. And certainly, the bigger issue is making sure that they can continue to trade wine across provincial borders. That is still an issue in some places. A number of the other things that are on this list, plywood as you mentioned, hockey sticks, cut flowers and bulbs. There's also some clothing as down jackets as well. Uh again, in some of the US states, not sure how many of them need down jackets and how big of a of an export that is for Canada. Uh there's also some paper products as well. Now, all of this, according to US officials, is because they feel that Canada is taking unfair trade practices against the United States for our reciprocal tariffs and our trade actions on their trade actions as well. Uh and they say they cite specifically Canada's supply managed sector for dairy industries.

[00:01:42]Also, they talk about some of the tariffs that we have on US-made cars that do not have uh Kuzma-compliant parts from North America in them or suf- sufficient ones that reach that threshold. And the US booze ban, of course, that we've seen championed by uh Ontario Premier Doug Ford. The fact that a number of provinces have decided to remove American alcohol from their shelves. That is something that continues to be a thorn in their side.

[00:02:09]It's mentioned a number of times by US Trade Representative Jameson Greer, and also by US Ambassador to Canada Pete Hoekstra. So, at this point, Canada looking to try and see what they can do about it, reach across the border to see if there is any way to do this, to make sure that we they avoid these tariffs.

[00:02:28]But, they have 30 days to do so, because that is when they will take effect from yesterday.

[00:02:34]>> Yeah, you mentioned Ambassador Hoekstra.

[00:02:35]It's interesting cuz he was, you know, raising a glass at a couple of different events to sort of the Canadian-US relationship recently. And then this turn happens. Of course, there's been plenty of free advice on social media from the pundit class, Mike. But, what have Canadian officials actually been saying, or how have they been responding to this latest round of potential tariffs?

[00:02:53]>> Yeah, I think it's interesting when you consider that Premier Doug Ford, even just recently, putting out a post on X saying, "We will stand united, and they will be having these conversations in Prince Edward Island, where they are meeting together, all premiers and territorial leaders. They will have these conversations." And even yesterday saying that if these tariffs come through, that Canada should respond tariff for tariff, dollar for dollar. And even David Eby, the Premier of BC, saying that American alcohol will not make its way back on store shelves there in that province.

[00:03:30]But, you're also hearing from people who are connected to these negotiations, like Flavio Volpe, with the Automotive Parts Manufacturers Association, who is part as well of that Canada-US Advisory Council for the Prime Minister. He's saying that discussions have been very productive in recent days, and saying in recent weeks, and also mentioning that the number of irritants between Canada and the US is down to single digits. So, he thinks that this is essentially a play by the US administration to turn up the heat on Canadian officials as they get down to the nitty-gritty here and certainly others that have been in the Prime Minister's office during that first Trump administration say that they've seen this movie before and not to say that it isn't disappointing, but certainly they think that Canada needs to continue to do the work and have those conversations with their American counterparts to try and move things forward.

[00:04:25]>> Okay, that is CTV News Mike LeCouteur joining us live. Thanks so much for this, Mike.

[00:04:29]>> Thanks, Mike.