The Trump administration has agreed to lift tariffs on steel imports from Canada and Mexico, paving the way for a new trilateral trade deal to go through. President Trump made the announcement in remarks to the National Association of Retailers in Washington, D.C., Friday.
“I’m pleased to announce that we’ve just reached an agreement with Canada and Mexico, and we’ll be selling our product into those countries without the imposition of tariffs or major tariffs. Big difference,” said the President.
Lifting the sanctions clears a major hurdle to getting the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) through Congress. Lawmakers from both parties withheld support for the deal because of the sanctions. Senate Finance Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), said he would not advance the trade pact unless the Trump administration cancelled the tariffs against Canada and Mexico.
Lawmakers had urged the President to work closer with allies against China’s trade policies which they view as abusive, and abandon unnecessary trade spats with Canada and Mexico thought of as counterproductive.
“That deal is going to be a fantastic deal for our country, and hopefully Congress will approve the USMCA quickly and then the great farmers, and manufacturers and steel plants will make our economy even more successful than it already is, if that’s possible,” the President said in his remarks today.
President Trump levied tariffs against major U.S. allies last year. Tariffs against EU nations, as well as Japan, remain in place.
The Trump administration has been locked in ongoing trade negotiations with China for months. Those negotiations hit major roadblocks recently as the U.S. levied tariffs on $200 billion worth of Chinese imports. China responded this week with tariffs on $60 billion worth of U.S. goods.
Photo by Shealah Craighead via The White House