U.S. DELAYS TARIFFS ON STEEL, ALUMINUM
White House says it is putting off implementing controversial duties for Canada, Mexico and EU until June,
WASHINGTON— The United States has delayed the imposition of steel and aluminum tariffs for another month, with a late-evening announcement Monday that pushed the internationally contentious issue off to June 1.
The announcement came just before the deadline for the tariffs taking effect and marked the second such delay over an issue that has threatened to spark a global trade war. The White House said it would pause tariffs for Canada, Mexico and the European Union; that it would soon announce steel and aluminum agreements with Argentina, Australia and Brazil; and that it had already reached a deal with South Korea.
In a statement, it described the goal of these negotiations with different countries: setting quotas that limit the volume of steel and aluminum imports, with the object of keeping out excess Chinese supply that has depressed global prices. The issue is particularly relevant to Canada, as the No. 1 supplier of both materials to the U.S.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says he has repeatedly stressed to his American counterpart why tariffs on Canada would be an especially bad idea, given that U.S. military vehicles rely on metals from Canada, and private sector supply chains also use materials that criss-cross the border.
“I’ve had many conversations with the president,” Trudeau told a news conference in Vancouver, hours before the delay was announced. “He has assured me that he understands the depth of connection and the intertwined nature of the great jobs for middle-class Canadians and Americans back and forth across the border.”
Tariffs were previously scheduled to hit weeks ago, but U.S. President Donald Trump issued orders delaying them for Canada and Mexico, pending the NAFTA negotiations — and then delayed them for the entire world until May 1.
Now the U.S. says that in order to avoid a tariff, every country must agree to some restraints on steel and aluminum trading.
“In all of these negotiations, the administration is focused on quotas that will restrain imports, prevent trans-shipment and protect the national security,” Monday’s White House statement said.
Ottawa’s position is that neither tariffs nor the alternative of quotas make economic, legal or military sense.
Canada has argued that it has been supplying metals to the U.S. military for generations, that its imports and exports of steel are balanced and that it is working with the U.S. to keep overproduced Asian steel out of North America.