According to media reports, Senate Finance Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) has requested that the Trump administration lift all steel tariffs against Canada and Mexico before Congress considers the new US-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA).
“Unfortunately, our producers are unlikely to realize the market access promises of USMCA while the Section 232 tariffs on steel and aluminum imports from Canada and Mexico remain. Because of these tariffs, Mexico and Canada have imposed retaliatory tariffs on American exports,” Grassley said in a joint statement Wednesday with Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Mike Naig.
“Before Congress considers legislation to implement USMCA, the Administration should lift tariffs on steel and aluminum imports from our top two trading partners and secure the elimination of retaliatory tariffs that stand to wipe out gains our farmers have made over the past two and a half decades.”
The deal to replace the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) was reached last November, though it must be approved by legislators in all three nations before it is implemented.