According to news reports in Canada, it is unlikely that the Canadian government will accept quotas or other import limits in exchange for an exclusion to Section 232 tariffs.
In an interview with the Globe and Mail newspaper, Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland said the government is continuing to pursue a resolution in which tariffs from both the US and Canada are dropped.
“It’s exceedingly simple,” Freeland said. “From my perspective, we could fix it this afternoon. The fix this afternoon is, everybody lifts their tariffs on each other.”
A Canadian government source told the newspaper that while the government opposes quotas of any sort, it might consider a quota level that is so high that Canadian exports would never reach it.
Another article in the Canadian Press newspaper quoted a source describing the proposed quota system as “ridiculous,” and while other sources said quotas may still be an alternative, they emphasized that the Trump administration is motivated to complete negotiations before the Nov. 6 midterm elections.
Carlo Dade of the Canada West Foundation told media that one factor complicating the negotiations is that US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer “really does not like Canada.”
Still, there is pressure within the US to make a deal, with Republican Senators and Representatives noting the harm retaliatory tariffs have caused to industries within their states and districts.
“There is a strong call in the heartland for the president to lift those tariffs and end the retaliation by Mexico and Canada, particularly the countermeasures against U.S. farm country,” American international trade lawyer Dan Uczjo said to the CBC. “It is our understanding that the president is hearing about the pain inflicted by these tariffs as he hits the campaign circuit in Iowa, Ohio and other US battleground regions.”