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The owner of a Michigan furniture manufacturer said the White House’s new tariffs on Canadian imports hurt his business.
President Donald Trump’s 50% tariffs on scores of Canadian imports hamper the “ability for us to put food on the table for our family but also impacts the ability for us to give back to our community,” Michael Howard II, owner of Warren-based Howard Family Designs, said.
Howard and his wife started their business a decade ago. They make and sell everything from dining room tables to bookcases.
“To say that we don’t need Canada is just disingenuous. It’s dishonest. And it’s just absolutely not truthful,” Howard said.
The new levies impact about 5% of Canada’s annual exports to the U.S.—or $20 billion in goods ranging from hockey sticks to agricultural products.
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney quickly promised that his government would roll out “dollar for dollar” retaliatory measures starting September 8.
In a social media post, Trump said Canada has been ripping off the U.S. for years.
The U.S. and Canada once held one of the world’s most durable trade alliances, but the latest escalation plunges the North American neighbors deeper into a rupture that has kept both sides of the border on edge throughout Trump’s second term in office.
Renaldo Agostino, a city councilor in Windsor, Ontario, Detroit’s southern neighbor, said Canadians are angry and hurt by America’s actions, but that most blame Trump and his administration.
“This is more of a Washington thing,” said Agostino. “This is more the White House that is attacking our nation.”
“There’s so many of us that have family and friends, brothers and sisters over there, and it’s become this bizarre relationship between the White House and the Canadian citizen that is insulted by the fact that the president of the United States of America continues to call us ‘the 51st state,’” Agostino added.
This article was provided by The Associated Press.