Tariffs

already temporarily shielded Canada and Mexico from the tariffs during the renegotiation of the North American Free Trade Agreement. Lighthizer’s testimony came a day after Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin was warned by global economic leaders at a meeting in Buenos Aires that the United States was risking a trade war by initiating the tariffs. Trump declared earlier in the month that “trade wars are good, and easy to win.” But Lighthizer struck a different note Wednesday. “Nobody wins from a trade war,” he said. “We certainly don’t want a trade war. On the other hand, you have to ask yourself, can we go on with an $800 billion trade deficit?” If Trump decides to exclude Brazil and South Korea from the tariffs, and allows Canada and Mexico to remain exempt, he will have given a reprieve to the four largest foreign suppliers of steel to the United States, together accounting for half of all steel imports. That could make the tariffs less helpful to domestic steel mills. “It raises the question of, if you exempt all of them, who’s left?” said William Reinsch, a trade expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. “It will reduce the value of the relief to the domestic industry.” Foreign governments have continued to engage in highlevel talks with the adminis- tration to make the case for exclusion from the tariffs. Cecilia Malmstrom, the Euro- pean Union’s commissioner for trade, said in a statement that she had met with the U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross this week to talk about steel and aluminum trade “with a view to identifying mutually acceptable outcomes as rapidly as possible.” Trump spoke this week with President Emmanuel Macron of France about how Europe and the United States “might come together over tariffs,” a White House official said in a statement. Administration officials have said the tariffs are intended to counter an influx of cheap metals from China that are entering the United States through other countries. The Commerce Department has cited national security as the premise for the tariffs, saying the imports are crippling domestic producers and, by extension, the nation’s industrial base. Asked about reports that the administration was preparing a new set of tariffs aimed at China, Lighthizer said Trump would make a decision “in the very near future.” Lighthizer has been investigating China’s trade practices since August, including allegations of theft of intellectual property. Lighthizer indicated that the administration was specifically concerned about Chinese policies that compel U.S. companies to share technology when they make investments in China. “There are certain technology products that are under assault,” he said. “You have to give consideration to whether or not you would put tariffs on those products.” But he noted that any tariffs would take into account the economic impact of raising the cost of consumer goods.