Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senator Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.) led five of her Senate colleagues in a letter to U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth and U.S. Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent demanding answers on the national security impacts on President Donald Trump’s tariffs on Canadian goods. On Tuesday, the Trump Administration implemented a 25 percent tariff on all goods imported from Canada, taxing working families for their food, energy, and car purchases.
“By targeting a partner that is critical to U.S. mineral, food, and energy security, these measures threaten to undermine American national security,” wrote the Senators. “Canada provides essential minerals that power our weapons systems, nourish our crops, and heat our homes. Blanket tariffs that restrict our ability to source these minerals and make us more reliant on adversarial partners like Venezuela, China, and Russia raise fundamental national security questions.”
Specifically, the Senators demanded answers to the following questions:
- How will the administration ensure that the additional 10 percent tariff on Canadian critical minerals does not increase costs and lead to shortages or reduced supply?
- How will the administration ensure that the additional 25 percent tariff on Canadian minerals such as potash [common in agricultural fertilizer] does not increase the cost of food production and impair the ability of American farmers to fill our dinner tables with affordable and abundant food?
- How will the administration ensure that new tariffs on Canadian minerals and energy products do not lead the United States to increase our sourcing from China, Russia, Belarus, and Venezuela?
- Are there any precautionary or preemptive actions that the administration has taken or plans to take to ensure that potential Canadian restrictions or bans on the export of critical minerals do not impair U.S. national security?
- How will the administration ensure that the additional 10 percent tariff on nickel imports from Canada does not lead additional Western miners to shutter and increase U.S. reliance on Chinese companies?
- How will the administration ensure that new tariffs on Canada do not work counter to delivering affordable, reliable energy to U.S. consumers?
In 2023, the United States imported $47 billion in minerals from Canada, like the nickel alloys necessary for the production of military equipment and weapons. Canadian minerals help reduce America’s reliance on trade with China.
Canada is also the world’s largest producer and exporter of potash, a critical component for fertilizer. More than 90 percent of the potash imported for use by American farmers comes from Canada, and a decrease in trade with Canada likely results in increased trade with Russia, Belarus, and China – the world’s next three largest potash producers.
Additionally, the United States relies on Canadian crude oil imports to supplement its own energy production. Reducing the importation of Canadian crude oil increases America’s reliance on less friendly foreign oil sources, such as Venezuela.
Additional signatories to the letter include Senators John Hickenlooper (D-Colo.), Jacky Rosen (D-Nev.), Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.), and Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.).
Read the full letter here.
Senator Cortez Masto has led efforts in Congress to strengthen our national security and supply chains. She has consistently blocked burdensome taxes on mining and wrote important provisions of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law to bolster Nevada’s critical mineral supply chain. She’s also introduced bipartisan legislation to strengthen the domestic supply chain for rare-earth magnets, which are critical components of cell phones, computers, defense systems, and electric vehicles, but are almost exclusively made in China.
###