OTTAWA -- The federal government is holding consultations on a long list of potential tariffs Canada may impose of American aluminum products in response to U.S. President Donald Trump’s 10-per-cent tariff on Canadian aluminum imports.

Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland condemned Trump’s move during a press conference on Friday, calling it "absurd," while unveiling a draft list of 68 products that could soon be subject to new tariffs worth as much as $3.6 billion.

"In response to these unwarranted tariffs, Canada will respond swiftly and strongly in defence of our workers. We will impose dollar-for-dollar countermeasures in a balanced and perfectly reciprocal retaliation. We will not escalate and we will not back down," she said, speaking in Toronto.

Freeland noted that the government is looking for input, from Canadians in the next 30 days, to finalize the list of products.

"The prime minister has decided to launch consultations on a broad and extensive list of aluminum-containing products. We invite Canadians and Canadian businesses to participate in these consultations," she said.

The consultations list includes:

  • Household washing machines, not including machines which both wash and dry, of a dry linen capacity not exceeding 10 kg, fully-automatic
  • Bicycles and other cycles
  • Bicycle wheels
  • Golf clubs, complete
  • Articles for sports and general physical exercise (e.g., bats, hockey sticks, playground equipment)
  • Refrigerators, household type, compression type
  • Monopods, bipods, tripods of aluminum
  • Embossed aluminum cans for use in the packaging of beverages
  • Metal furniture of a kind used in offices
  • Aluminum ores and concentrates
  • Slag, ash and residues, containing mainly aluminum
  • Aluminum tube or pipe fittings
  • Aluminum doors, windows and their frames and thresholds for doors
  • Aluminum containers for compressed or liquefied gas
  • Aluminum nails, tacks, staples (other than those of heading 83.05), screws, bolts, nuts, screw hooks, rivets, cotters, cotter-pins, washers and similar articles

The remaining items are variations of those listed above. Freeland said it’s ironic that Americans will be negatively impacted by the tariffs Trump announced.

"Any American who buys a can of beer or soda or a car or a bike will suffer. In fact, the very washing machines manufactured at the Whirlpool plant where the president made his announcement yesterday, will become more expensive for Americans and less competitive with machines produced elsewhere in the world. "