Ontario’s economic development minister minimized the importance of a ruling by a U.S. court that temporarily blocked some of President Donald Trump’s tarrifs just hours before the ruling was overturned on Thursday.
Vic Fedeli made the comment to reporters during an unrelated news conference on Thursday morning.
The ruling from the U.S. Court of International Trade on Wednesday effectively blocked the so-called “Liberation Day” duties on countries around the world, as well as the tariffs on Canada, Mexico and China that Trump has said are related to fentanyl.
But by Thursday afternoon, a U.S. federal appeals court had reinstated Trump’s sweeping tariffs, providing no reasons for its decision.
“It is just the latest twist in what is happening with the tariffs, but very specifically section 232 as it’s called, that did not get affected yesterday. That is steel, that is aluminum and that is auto tariffs. So, the main three—nothing has changed,” Fedeli said earlier in the day, prior to the reversal.
It should be noted that Trump had already agreed to provide an exemption from the sweeping tariffs for goods that are compliant with an existing North American free trade pact (CUSMA).
Speaking with reporters on Thursday, Fedeli insisted that the legal wrangling in the courts won’t change Ontario’s approach.
“We will continue on a daily basis meting with senators, meeting with members of congress, meeting with the ways and means committee, meeting with the finance committee, meeting with the U.S. trade representative and continuing to talk about how integrated our two economies are and that when we work together on these things, we are stronger,” he said.
Prime Minister Mark Carney said earlier on Thursday that he welcomed the U.S. court decision, but stressed Canada’s “trading relationship with the United States is still profoundly and adversely threatened” by “unjustified” tariffs on steel, aluminum and the auto sector.
There are more than 100,000 direct jobs related to Ontario’s auto sector and officials have expressed concerns that the tariffs on automobiles could put some of those jobs at risk.
