US abruptly yanks aluminum tax as Canada set to retaliate

Canadians may well shake their heads at erratic US behaviour in first applying a tariff to Canadian-made aluminum and then withdrawing it two weeks after it was applied. It looks as if the election desperation felt by the administration distorted its judgment. Canada was set to apply equivalent tariffs on farm and other products from states in the US mid-west where Republicans usually do well.

But quotas remain

But as this story by National Post writer Jesse Snyder says, there are US quotas in the background which may yet trigger tariffs on Canadian aluminum. The story hints at a regulatory back-and-forth of Byzantine complexity.