By Austin Keating
The US House of Representatives voted in February to terminate the national emergency declaration that enabled steep tariffs on Canadian imports, following similar Senate action earlier this year. For the nation’s sheet metal and HVAC contractors, relief may finally be on the way after a year of rising costs, material shortages, and mounting uncertainty in project planning.
The tariffs, imposed under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, placed a 35% duty on most Canadian imports and 10% on energy products. While intended as a show of economic strength, many in the construction and manufacturing sectors have argued the policy backfired—hurting American companies more than their northern competitors.
Stanley E. Kolbe Jr., executive director of government and political affairs at SMACNA, sent a letter to Congress voicing strong support for H.J. Res. 72, the resolution introduced by Rep. Gregory Meeks, D-N.Y., to end tariffs on Canadian goods.
“While imposing large, across-the-board tariffs on a number of other nations may be justified, Canada is our closest and most important trading partner,” Kolbe said. “Tariff penalties aimed at Canada, for non-trade objectives, have already caused harsh and unnecessary economic pain for US workers and harm to our nation’s construction and related metal fabricating, as well as HVAC equipment manufacturing businesses. In fact, it will punish businesses, labour, and economies on both sides of the border, and in direct contravention of the provisions featured in the existing USMCA.
With the resolution now heading to the White House, its fate is uncertain—President Trump could still issue a veto, which would require a two-thirds majority in both chambers to override. Meanwhile, attention in Congress is already pivoting to Brazil, where lawmakers are considering similar action on tariffs affecting coffee, metals, and other imports from one of America’s other major trading partners.
Read the full version of this article in ACHR News at tinyurl.com/bdcvtw7m
