Economy
Trump doubles down on Canada trade war
WASHINGTON
U.S. President Donald Trump announced massive new tariffs on Canadian steel and aluminum Tuesday, while threatening to “shut down” its auto industry and saying the best way to end the trade war was for Washington’s ally to be absorbed into the United States.
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Trump’s shock new threats came hours before a midnight deadline for ramping up the Republican’s increasingly global trade offensive.
On his Truth Social platform, Trump announced that he would increase tariffs on Canadian steel and aluminum imports by an additional 25 percent for a total of 50 percent duties on those commodities for the neighbor.
This is in addition to tariffs of 25 percent on steel and aluminum imports from around the world, including exporters in Brazil, Mexico and United Arab Emirates.
The upcoming levies, which currently allow for no exceptions, threaten to hit everything from electronics to vehicles and construction equipment — and have manufacturers scrambling to find cost-effective domestic suppliers.
The country facing the most aggressive action is Canada, historically one of the United States’ closest allies and top trading partners, but now locked in an extraordinarily bitter war of words with the Republican, as well as constant threats over its sovereignty.
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Canada’s incoming prime minister Mark Carney struck a defiant note Sunday, vowing to stand up for “the Canadian way of life” and saying Canadians are “always ready” for a fight if needed.
Canada supplies half of U.S. aluminum imports and 20 percent of U.S. steel imports, noted industry consultant EY-Parthenon.
Trump said his new supercharged tariffs were in response to Canadian province Ontario’s imposition of a 25-percent tax on electricity exports to the United States.
Trump said he would also be announcing an electricity national emergency in the area hit by the price increases.
But he also ramped up his threats, warning that if what he called “egregious” Canadian tariffs are not dropped he will also impose car import tariffs starting April 2 “which will, essentially, permanently shut down the automobile manufacturing business in Canada.”
In the same lengthy social media post, Trump said the “only thing which makes sense” is for Canada to join the United States as a 51st state.
“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,” Trump said.
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Costs and opportunities
If some companies are bracing for a damaging period of elevated production costs, others are sensing an opportunity.
Drew Greenblatt, owner of metal product manufacturer Marlin Steel, said the incoming levies on imported steel have already boosted his new orders.
“We only use American steel, so we’re thrilled with the tariffs,” he told AFP, adding that these helped him gain an edge over a competitor that was using Chinese metal imports.
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But producers who use foreign sources of steel have warned that higher import costs will ripple through the world’s biggest economy.
Even as some domestic companies stand to benefit as tariffs bring them more business, a major U.S. maker of steel products warned that American steel prices would surge to match the elevated costs of foreign goods.
Supply constraints nudge prices higher, making items like nails for example more pricey given that much of their cost comes from original steel.
Purchasers in industries like homebuilding would therefore end up spending more money.
They could end up passing these costs on to consumers, making homes even less affordable, the manufacturer cautioned, speaking on condition of anonymity.
STOCKHOLM
Sweden’s government said it will hold talks with food producers and distributers as a consumer movement over soaring costs in the Nordic country gains traction.
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Annual food price inflation in Sweden hit its highest rate in two years in February at 3.9 percent.
Meanwhile, the independent watchdog site Matpriskollen (The Food Price Checker) found in January that prices in Swedish grocery stores had risen by 19.1 percent over two years.
“In view of the rapid price developments in the first months of the year and the rising prices in recent years, the Minister of Finance and Rural Affairs Minister will invite selected actors from the food supply chain for talks,” the government said in a statement.
The aim of the talks is to “listen to the industry’s assessment of the situation and work together to lower prices for customers,” it added.
The move comes as a viral online campaign calling for a boycott of major grocery stores next week has picked up speed.
One of the campaigners, Annika Morina, told newspaper Aftonbladet that she reached her breaking point buying tomato puree on Valentine’s Day.
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“It had gone up 50 percent. I’ve seen these kinds of boycotts in countries in the Balkans and felt: ‘Why don’t things like that happen in Sweden?’,” she said.
She posted a video to TikTok calling for the boycott which has received tens of thousands of views and according to Aftonbladet thousands are expected to join the boycott.
Consumers in Croatia frustrated by soaring prices massively joined two boycott calls in January, sending daily sales down by over 40 percent.
LONDON
Britain’s Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves (C) meets with defence suppliers at RAF Northolt on March 6, 2025 in Ruislip, west of London. Reeves met with UK defence suppliers to Ukraine.
The British government said on March 14 that it would increase its export credit facilities for weapons manufacturers by two billion pounds ($2.6 billion) to boost overseas sales.
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The new funds “will see billions of pounds unlocked for U.K. defence companies that export overseas, driving economic growth and creating jobs across the U.K.,” it said in a statement.
Already the U.K. Export Finance agency has a lending capacity of eight billion pounds specifically for government clients of defence contractors, bringing the new total to 10 billion pounds.
Like other countries across Europe, Britain is racing to beef up its military production capabilities in the face of an expansionist Russia, pressure on European members of NATO to spend more on defence, and questions over President Donald Trump’s commitment to U.S. protection of Europe.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer pledged ahead of a White House visit in February to boost defence spending to 2.5 percent of the economy by 2027, with the aim of hiking it to 3.0 percent in the next parliament.
“The world is changing, and we must bring about a new era of security and renewal that protects working people and keeps our country safe,” Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves said in the statement.
ANKARA
The services production index increased by 6 percent on an annual basis in January, gathering pace from the previous month’s 2.6 percent rise, data from the Turkish Statistical Institute (TÜİK) showed on March 14.
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The monthly increase in the index also quickened from 1.3 percent in December to 2.5 percent in January.
The index for transportation and storage services increased by 3.2 percent year-on-year but declined by 0.5 percent month-on-month.
Accommodation and food services rose 9.6 percent from a year ago and 0.5 percent compared to the previous month, the statistics authority said.
The annual and monthly increases in the index for information and communication services were 9.9 percent and 6.4 percent, respectively.
Real estate services rose 8.9 percent year-on-year, according to TÜİK data.
The prevalent price-setting behavior in the services sector leads to significant inertia and causes the impact of shocks on inflation to extend over a long time period, the Central Bank said in the summary of the March 6 Monetary Policy Committee meeting released on March 13.
Services inflation remains higher than goods inflation, it said, adding that having slowed down in the final quarter of 2024, services inflation increased in January due to the effects of items with time-dependent pricing.
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