Chuck Grassley, chairman of the US Senate Finance Committee, has warned that Canada and Mexico might not sign the US-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA), also known as the new NAFTA, as long as the US tariffs on steel and aluminium remain in effect, as reported by the Financial Post.
The USMCA must be approved by all three countries before its implementation. According to Senator Grassley, however, the Canadian parliament might not consider approving the deal in the face of upcoming federal elections in June. As for Mexico, he stated that the representatives of the country are not open to negotiations any more.
The new NAFTA agreement has also met with discontent in the US Congress, with both Republicans and Democrats seeking changes on a range of provisions. Business groups and politicians from both parties have also pressed for the tariffs to be removed before the deal is passed. The Financial Post quoted Ron Johnson, a Republican senator, as saying in a TV interview, “The president said, Wilbur Ross said, once we have the new NAFTA, the USMCA, signed, the tariffs will go away and they haven’t gone away. So, I am concerned about that. People need to understand tariffs are a tax on American consumers. They’re not paid for by China or Mexico or Canada.”