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A top Canadian lawmaker has threatened to slap a 100 percent tax on Elon Musk’s Tesla vehicles in retaliation to President Donald Trump’s tariffs.
Chrystia Freeland, who resigned last month as Justin Trudeau’s deputy and finance minister, has vowed “surgical” reprisals to the 25 percent tariff that Trump has placed on all steel imports.
Freeland, who is running to be the next leader of the Liberal Party and prime minister of Canada, said that if forced, the nation will “inflict the biggest trade blow that the United States has ever endured.”
“We are going to go after American stakeholders who matter to the White House,” Freeland told CNN on Tuesday. “I have proposed a 100 percent tariff on all Teslas. I am calling on all the countries that are affected by this tariff to join us, and our retaliation will target specific Trump constituencies.”
Her threat comes as the EV maker is struggling with declining global sales and potential backlash to its CEO’s political views.
Freeland also threatened to “go after” Wisconsin dairy farmers. “We know how important they are for the President. And we’re not going to let them sell their products in Canada anymore,” she said.
On Monday, Trump removed the exceptions and exemptions from his 2018 tariffs on steel, meaning that all steel imports will be taxed at a minimum of 25 percent. Trump also hiked his 2018 aluminum tariffs to 25 percent from 10 percent.
The move has not pleased Canada, which is the largest source of steel imports.
“The tariffs the U.S. is threatening Canada with are across the board, and they’re going to hurt you,” Freeland added. “Take aluminum. Aluminum is basically electricity in solid form, and in imposing a 25 percent tariff on Canadian aluminum, you’re hurting yourselves.”
Trump’s plan to unilaterally impose a 25 percent tariff on Mexican and Canadian imports appears to be on hold in both countries after a series of phone calls between Trump and the leaders of the two nations last week.
Trump frequently claims that the tariffs he unilaterally imposes are paid by foreign nations, but they are actually paid by American importers and passed on to American consumers in the form of higher costs.
