The steel mill in a partially occupied region of Ukraine is a dystopian maze of flames, chutes and tentacled pipes, vast enough to be a small city. Thunderous blazes of sparks flash above the open furnaces where workers smelt iron ore into streams of molten metal day and night.

Chinese tariffs on U.S. products including LNG, coal and agricultural equipment were imposed Monday, in response to Trump’s 10 percent blanket levy.

McKercher said the language used by Trump in his tariff directive “gives the game away.” Essentially, by proposing 25 per cent tariffs on Canadian goods, except energy which was set at 10 per cent, Trump is revealing the country’s dependency on cheap Canadian energy and a concern about prices rising too high for Americans.

Donald Trump's trade advisers were finalizing plans on Wednesday for the reciprocal tariffs the U.S. president has vowed to impose on every country that charges duties on U.S. imports, ratcheting up fears of a widening global trade war and threatening to add to already-sticky U.