The US tariffs on steel and aluminium imports are insulting and unacceptable, said Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in an interview to NBC. 

According to him, the US President Donald Trump’s administration has decided to introduce duties in order to protect US national security interests. 

“The idea that we are somehow a national security threat to the United States is quite frankly insulting and unacceptable,” the Prime Minister said adding: “The idea that the Canadian steel that's in military, military vehicles in the United States, the Canadian aluminum that makes your, your fighter jets is somehow now a threat?”

Trudeau pushed back against Trump's statement that the US suffered unfair trade deals.

“He's worried about trade surpluses, trade deficits around the world. Well, they have a $2 billion surplus on steel with us. So it's not like the trade is imbalanced against the U.S. favor on this one,” Trudeau said.

As reported earlier, the U.S. President Donald Trump decided to impose duties on steel and aluminum 25% and 10% respectively. US Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross said on Thursday that the US administration introduced customs duties on steel and aluminum imports from the EU, Canada and Mexico.

The U.S. also proposes tariffs on 1.300 Chinese goods and plans to apply the tariffs to about $50 billion worth of goods.