Mr. Speaker, I will treasure this moment as being a moment in the House with the hon. member for the CCF Party.
I will channel my inner Tommy Douglas and do my best, although I warn members that it does not appear to be exactly the question that I was prepared for.
The Government of Canada continues to defend Canada's steel industry and to support the country's workers.
We have a robust and reactive trade remedy system to deal with undervalued and unfairly subsidized steel imports into the Canadian market. In recent years, we have taken steps to enhance our response to unfair trade. This summer, the government announced a series of measures to improve the effectiveness of Canada's trade law enforcement.
These measures include regulatory amendments to improve the effectiveness of Canada's trade remedy system, particularly by providing the Canada Border Services Agency with the tools required to fight the circumvention of duties.
They also include regulatory amendments to improve the country of origin labelling regime in order to provide customs officers with additional tools to verify the country of origin of certain steel products and to better align with the U.S. system.
Finally, there are additional funds to bolster the enforcement of trade rules, which will require a 50% increase in the number of employees at the Canada Border Services Agency working solely on investigations and compliance with trade remedy actions.
When the United Sates imposed unjustified and counterproductive tariffs on Canadian steel and aluminum, the Government of Canada reacted the same way. On July 1, 2018, Canada began to impose reciprocal countermeasures, dollar for dollar, on U.S. imports of steel, aluminum and other products representing $16.6 billion, while continuing to work to have the American tariffs completely removed. We are continuing that work today, even after the USMCA agreement was signed.
While the Government of Canada continues to work with the United States to remove the tariffs on steel and aluminum, we are aware that these tariffs and our own Canadian countermeasures could have an impact on businesses and workers. For example, given the longstanding integration of the Canadian and American supply chains, the Government of Canada recognizes that the corrective measures taken by Canada against U.S. imports may cause problems for Canadian manufacturers that depend on American steel and aluminum. That is why the government undertook a process to allow Canadian companies dealing with exceptional circumstances to apply for targeted relief.
Those measures represent a balanced response that will support Canadian producers and manufacturers.