Canada launches retaliatory tariffs on the US, Mexico to respond + US firms to control Panama Canal ports

Canada retaliates with tariffs on US: Canada has launched 25% retaliatory tariffs on a total of CAD 155 bn worth of US goods, the tariffs on CAD 30 bn of the total will be effective immediately, while the other CAD 125 bn will be effective in three weeks, on cars, trucks, steel and aluminum, Asharq Business reported on Tuesday. Ontario state is also planning to impose another 25% tariff on electricity supplied to 1.5 mn homes in the US’ Minnesota, Michigan and New York, according to the news outlet, citing Ontario Premier Doug Ford.

And Mexico pledges a response by Sunday: Mexico’s President Claudia Sheinbaum said that her administration would respond with retaliatory tariffs by Sunday, but said that it will wait for a planned phone call with Trump before the announcement, the Associated Press reports.

REFRESHER- US President Donald Trump officially slapped 25% tariffs on Canada and Mexico starting Tuesday, effectively leaving no further room for talks.

Some good news? Trump is ready to scale back some of the recently imposed tariffs and to “meet [Mexico and Canada] in the middle,” the US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick told CNBC on Tuesday. The unspecified compromises were supposed to be revealed yesterday.

Other countries might be next: Trump blasted both South Korea and India for their alleged high tariffs on US products during his address to the US Congress on Tuesday, raising the prospect of an expanding trade war, Bloomberg and the Times of India reported. “South Korea’s average tariff is four times higher” what the US impose on Korean products, Trump bemoaned in his speech. The US President also accused India of imposing duties on US auto imports that are “higher than 100%”, pledging to consider retaliatory tariffs starting 2 April.

US firms snap up Panama Canal ports: Hong Kong-based conglomerate CK Hutchinson has sold a majority stake in its USD 22.8 bn ports arm to a consortium led by the US’ Blackrock for USD 19 bn, Reuters reports. The transaction saw the US-based buyers handed control of ports along the Panama Canal, which US President Donald Trump commended as the US “reclaiming” the waterway, CNBC reports.

Here is a rundown of the assets secured by Blackrock investors:

• 43 ports including 199 berths across 23 nations globally.
• 90% of the Panama Ports Company, which operates 53 ports, including two at either end of the Panama Canal — Cristobal and Balboa
• 80% of Hutchinson Ports

The elephant in the room: CK Hutchison’s co-managing director Frank Sixt has emphasized that the sale is “purely commercial in nature and wholly unrelated to recent political news reports concerning the Panama Ports.” Last month, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio threatened “immediate consequences” if China does not scale back its alleged influence over the canal. This came around a month after Panama began an audit into Hutchison Ports to confirm adherence to the terms of a 25-year concession awarded to the company in response to US pressure.