Trump delays tariffs in latest effort to prod for concessions
WASHINGTON >> President Donald Trump at the last minute Monday evening announced he would again postpone imposing tariffs on steel and aluminum imports from Canada, Mexico and the European Union, the White House said, pushing off a key economic decision while he tries to prod foreign leaders into making trade-related concessions.
The White House said it reached agreements on metals imports with Argentina, Australia and Brazil, saying more details will be finalized in 30 days.
The contours of those agreements could not be immediately learned, though the White House
had been pushing other nations to agree to quotas on exports to the United States.
Trump has put off a decision on steel and aluminum tariffs aimed at Mexico and Canada because he is trying to gain more access for U.S. businesses to their markets as part of a North American Free Trade Agreement renegotiation.
Canadian, Mexican and U.S. officials are meeting in Washington this week to discuss the plan.
Trump’s strategy with the European Union is more fluid, as he has praised some countries, such as France, but chastised others, such as Germany, which he says needs to allow U.S. companies more access to consumers.
The late announcement — the tariffs would have kicked in at midnight — is the latest unexpected directive in Trump’s four-month effort to upend the United States’ trade relationship with more than a dozen countries.
Some countries, such as South Korea, have received preferential treatment by agreeing to early changes. Others, such as Japan, have been rebuffed despite repeated overtures from their leaders.
The administration has reached agreements in principle on the metals trade with Argentina, Australia and Brazil and is extending negotiations with Canada, Mexico and the European Union for a final 30 days, a modest reprieve.
The metals negotiations have been a key test of Trump’s trade strategy and diplomacy, pitting his highly personal bargaining style against the determination of major U.S. trade partners and allies to hold fast and retaliate if necessary under World Trade Organization rules.
Trump has shown a willingness to both befriend and berate almost every ally and adversary, a dynamic that has played out in the past two months as he has tried to lure many of them into making concessions in exchange for delaying tariffs.
“We are in uncharted territory in terms of trade policy,” said Chad Bown, a senior fellow at the Peterson Institute of International Economics. “What President Trump has done is make everything uncertain in trade policy. You don’t know on almost a dayto-day basis what trade policy is going to be, and businesses find it very difficult to operate in that kind of environment.”
A high-powered delegation will go to Beijing to hold talks on trade Thursday, the White House announced.
The group will include Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross, U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer, National Economic Council head Larry Kudlow, and Peter Navarro, assistant to the president for trade and manufacturing policy. Terry Branstad, the U.S. ambassador to China, will join the group.
Earlier this year, the Commerce Department issued a report alleging that the United States’ reliance on imported steel and aluminum posed a national security threat.
In March, Trump used that finding to announce steep tariffs against China and Japan, temporarily offering exemptions for many other countries.
Ross said in an interview with The Washington Post that Trump was acting within his authority. He said that under Section 232 of a key U.S. trade law, Trump “has very broad powers. He can raise the tariffs. He can lower them. He can let countries in and let them out.”
In recent weeks, Trump has met with leaders from three U.S. allies caught in the middle of the tariff debate.
French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel appealed last week to Trump to alter his stance, yet the administration has continued to press for concessions, and there is no guarantee that they will be spared.
European leaders have threatened countermeasures if Trump goes ahead with his proposed tariffs. The European actions would target items such as motorcycles and bourbon, produced in Republican electoral strongholds.