If the United States imposes tariffs on steel and aluminum imported from Canada, some Americans will lose their jobs and U.S. growth will be tested, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

Speaking to reporters in Brussels, Trinto reiterated that Canada will respond with countermeasures if necessary. US President Donald Trump has threatened Canada with tariffs not just on steel and aluminum but on all imported products.

In 2018, during his first term, Trump imposed tariffs on Canadian steel and aluminum at a time when the US was discussing renewing its trade agreement with Mexico and Canada. Trudeau claimed that those measures cost 75,000 US jobs.

“We’re highlighting the fact that jobs were lost in the US, significant jobs, the last time the US imposed tariffs (…), and that will undermine growth and prosperity in the US,” he said.

Trump argues his measures will help struggling US industry.

Nearly half of the aluminum used in the US is imported from other countries, most from Canada. In 2024 imports reached 3.2 million tons, twice the amount sold to the US by all nine countries on the next list of exporters combined.

Canada’s finance minister, Dominic Leblanc, who is in Washington for talks, said his country would do nothing until it sees what the US government intends to do.