U.S. Tariffs Continue on Steel, Aluminum from Canada and Mexico

The new regional trade deal by Canada, Mexico and the U.S. has not lifted the tariffs of 25% on steel and 10% aluminum imposed by the Trump administration in May.

Mexico and Canada had hoped they would be exempted from the taxes when they signed the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement earlier today. The pact, which now awaits legislative approval by the three countries, replaces the North American Free Trade Agreement.

In March President Donald Trump declared in a tweet that the protective import taxes on Canadian and Mexican aluminum and steel would come off only if a “new and fair NAFTA agreement is signed.” Today he heralded USMCA as a “truly groundbreaking achievement.”

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau used today’s ceremony to urge that the U.S. drop the metal tariffs for the sake of Canadian workers, their families and their communities. Ford Motor Co. which has complained that the taxes have made steel from U.S. producers the world’s most expensive, says that eliminating the tariffs is “critical.”

Mexico has been considering a deal that would cap Mexico’s future shipments of aluminum and steel to the U.S. at 80% of current volume, The Washington Post reports. The newspaper says Canada opposes quotas but is eager to work with the U.S. to block cheap Chinese steel from entering the U.S. market.

Canada and the European Union tied as the two largest exporters of foreign steel to the U.S. at the beginning of 2018, according to the Dept. of Commerce. Each supplied six times as much steel by value as did China.