In the news today: Steel and aluminum tariffs double to 50 per cent

Here is a roundup of stories from The Canadian Press designed to bring you up to speed…

Trump’s 50 per cent steel and aluminum tariffs go into effect

Tariffs on imports of steel and aluminum to the United States are increasing to 50 per cent today after President Donald Trump followed through on his plan to double the duties. Trump signed an executive order Tuesday to increase the levies from their previous rate of 25 per cent, saying it was necessary to protect national security and industries in the United States. Prime Minister Mark Carney says the tariffs are both unlawful and unjustified and that Canada is intensively negotiating with the U.S. to have tariffs removed under a new economic and security deal. The Canadian steel and aluminum industries say doubling the tariffs will have a devastating impact, while economists warn the higher tariffs could also lead to cost increases for Americans.

MPs to vote on government’s speech from the throne

The Liberal minority government’s first real test comes today as MPs are scheduled to vote on the government’s throne speech. The Liberals lost a vote Monday evening when opposition members successfully amended the speech to call on the government to table an economic update before Parliament breaks for the summer. Government whip Mark Gerretsen insisted nothing went wrong with that vote despite the Liberals losing it by a count of 166 to 164. However, the vote on the throne speech itself is a confidence vote, which means that if the government loses it, it could be forced into a general election.

Here’s what else we’re watching…

Bank of Canada set for interest rate decision

The Bank of Canada is set to make an interest rate decision today as the United States’ trade dispute continues to cloud the economic outlook. A poll of economists provided by LSEG Data & Analytics ahead of the decision shows they expect the central bank will leave its policy rate unchanged at 2.75 per cent. The central bank decided to hold its key rate steady at its last meeting in April, saying at the time that it needed more clarity on how the Canada-U.S. trade dispute would impact the economy. Statistics Canada said Friday that real gross domestic product topped expectations in the first quarter of the year as businesses rushed to get ahead of the tariff impact.

Weather not helping Prairie wildfire situation

Officials in Manitoba and Saskatchewan say areas affected by wildfires aren’t expected to see much relief in the weather forecast in the coming days. More than 30,000 people in those provinces have been forced to leave their homes as wildfires threaten their communities. Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe said Tuesday that there would be challenging days ahead due to a lack of rain in the forecast. The Manitoba government said that while some rain was expected across the northern part of the province, it wouldn’t be enough to help wildfire suppression efforts in a significant way. Officials in Alberta say that province is seeing “slightly improved conditions” after a week of extreme wildfire behaviour that involved evacuations.

One dead, five hurt in Toronto shooting

Police are searching for multiple suspects after a shooting in Toronto left one man dead and five others injured. The shooting took place Tuesday evening, a few minutes after 8:30 p.m., in a residential area near Yorkdale Shopping Centre in North York. Duty Insp. Baheer Sarvanandan told reporters that police don’t believe there is any risk to public safety. He said the man who died was in his 40s, but gave no further details, saying the next of kin still had to be notified. Sarvanandan confirmed that there were multiple suspects, but said investigators couldn’t yet say if the suspects and victims were known to each other.

Committee to discuss NS Power cybersecurity breach

A provincial legislative committee is scheduled to meet today to discuss the recent Nova Scotia Power cybersecurity breach that allowed cyber-thieves access to data from 280,000 customers. The privately owned utility’s CEO and other senior staff with Nova Scotia Power were called as witnesses to the standing committee on public accounts, which is set to meet this morning. Company CEO Peter Gregg has previously said the data of about 280,000 Nova Scotia Power customers was breached in a ransomware attack — which is more than half of their total customers. Gregg said the social insurance numbers of up to 140,000 customers had been collected by the utility, and therefore could have been accessed in the breach.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 4, 2025.

The Canadian Press