Canada’s internal feud over steel imports is Trumponomics in a nutshell — The Globe and Mail

April 21, 2019

The Canadian government’s response to the Canadian International Trade Tribunal’s (the Tribunal) report in the Safeguard Inquiry into the Importation of Certain Steel Goods will be under scrutiny, according to an article in The Globe and Mail. In his article, author Barrie McKenna examines the implications of the Tribunal’s report, which  found that the imposition of safeguards on energy tubular goods (ETG), along with four other steel products examined (of the seven), was not justified under Canadian law and applicable international trade law principles. The article describes how there has been speculation over the federal government’s potential response to the report. The article references an international trade brief written by Osler partner Riyaz Dattu, associate Gajan Sathananthan and articling student Jake Schmidt, for context on the Tribunal’s report.

In particular, The Globe and Mail article points to the following passage in the trade brief: “Nevertheless, intense lobbying by the Canadian steel industry is causing uncertainty on how the government will proceed based on the Tribunal’s report, particularly in relation to the five products for which the Tribunal determined that additional safeguard measures could not be justified.”

If you subscribe to The Globe and Mail online, for more background on the report, read author Barrie McKenna’s article “Canada’s internal feud over steel imports is Trumponomics in a nutshell” on April 21, 2019. For a more detailed analysis on the implications of the Tribunal’s report, read our international trade brief “Canadian International Trade Tribunal releases its report in the steel safeguard inquiry” on April 15, 2019.