To speed approval of the successor to NAFTA, President Trump should remove tariffs on steel imported from Canada and Mexico, said Senate Finance Committee chairman Chuck Grassley on Monday. Grassley urged action on the Section 232 tariffs in remarks on the Senate floor, elevating his argument that the tariffs, which led to retaliatory duties on U.S. goods including farm exports, are an impediment.
“This will help clear the path for USMCA [United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement] and have it ratified,” said Grassley, who has taken his case for removing the tariffs to the White House. “As Finance Committee chairman, I look forward to helping the president with this important task.” Canada and Mexico will be more forthcoming on USMCA ratification when the tariffs are lifted, said Grassley. Canada’s election season is likely to begin in June, so there is little time left “if it is going to be done, and I would think the president would want to get it done this year.”
Chrystia Freeland, Canada’s foreign affairs minister, told U.S. officials last week that the tariffs were “completely unacceptable to Canada” and created opposition among Canadians to the USMCA. Some Trump administration officials say the tariffs could be replaced with import quotas. Neither Canada nor Mexico, two of the largest U.S. trading partners, finds that idea agreeable.
Also on Monday, groups speaking for U.S. hog and dairy farmers said domestic producers would suffer if the Trump administration follows through on threats to close the U.S.-Mexico border. Mexico is a key market for pork and dairy exports. Pork sales to Mexico are down by 28 percent over the past year, said the National Pork Producers Council. “We are at the breaking point and cannot afford a total loss of the Mexican market, one that accounted for more than 20 percent of total U.S. pork exports last year.” Mexico is the largest customer for U.S. dairy exports. “There is not a ready alternative market,” said the U.S. Dairy Export Council.