WASHINGTON -- America’s top trading partners are responding to President Donald Trump’s belligerent and unpredictable trade policies by trying to take their business elsewhere.Canada broke with the United States Friday, slashing its 100% import tax on Chinese electric vehicles in return for lower tariffs on Canadian farm products, particularly canola seeds.“It’s a huge declaration of realignment in Canada’s economic relations,” said Edward Alden, who studies trade issues as senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations.“The economic threat from the United States is now perceived by Canadians as far bigger than the economic threat from China.
So this is a big deal.’’Canada has repeatedly been the target of Trump’s impulsive wrath.In October, for instance, he said he was imposing a 10% tariff on Canadian imports as a reprisal for Ontario’s provincial government airing an advertisement that criticized the president’s go-to diplomatic tariff tool.
He didn’t follow through on the increase, but tariffs on on some key Canadian sectors like steel and aluminum remain.But Friday's deal with China is potentially perilous one for Canada’s prime minister, Mark Carney, who risks retribution from Trump on the eve of negotiations over the renewal of a North American trade pact that is crucial to Canadian businesses.
Canada is not alone in looking for alternatives to America’s massive market as Trump slaps massive tariffs on imports in an attempt to strong-arm other countries into moving production to the United States.The European Union is expected to formally sign a trade pact Saturday with the South American alliance known as Mercosur, which includes the region’s two biggest economies, Brazil and Argentina.The EU is also pursuing a trade deal with India.China, pounded by U.S.
tariffs since Trump’s first term, has diversified its exports away the world’s biggest economy to markets such as Europe and Southeast Asia.It seems to be working...