Senate Finance Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, said Wednesday that President Trump appeared to have made serious progress towards removing one of the key obstacles to passage for his U.S.-Canada-Mexico Agreement on trade in nearing a deal to lift steel and aluminum tariffs.
“Good mtg w Canadian foreign minister Freeland on USMCA to talk abt how to get the trade agreement done this yr Metal tariffs issue seems to hv made progress Good news. If accurate Pres Trump is much closer to a big victory w a big obstacle to success in Congress lifted,” Grassley said in an Instagram post Wednesday. The post showed Grassley and Chrystia Freeland chatting.
Trump administration officials were in talks with their Canada and Mexican counterparts Wednesday to exempt those countries from the U.S. steel and aluminum tariffs, a key sticking point in the U.S.-Canada-Mexico Agreement’s passage in Congress. Canada and Mexico have demanded the tariffs be removed, and U.S. lawmakers like Grassley have said the trade deal cannot pass Congress as long as the tariffs remain.
The exemptions were initially granted when the tariffs were first enacted last year, but removed by the White House during the trade deal negotiations as a tactic to pressure Canada and Mexico. It was widely assumed by lawmakers and the business community that the exemptions would be restored once a deal was reached between the three countries.
The administration has resisted lifting the tariffs but Mexican Economic Minister Graciela Márquez Colín told reporters in Toronto on Tuesday that they were “having very fruitful conversations on lifting the tariffs.”
Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin told the Senate Appropriations Committee on Wednesday, “I think we are close to an understanding with Mexico and Canada. I’ve spoken to the finance ministers.” He added that resolving the tariff issue was a “priority of ours.”
Freeland has been more circumspect, declining to comment reporters on whether a deal was close following a meeting with U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer in Washington D.C. on Wednesday. “When it comes to Canada, it has still been the case for us that as long as the tariffs remain in place ratification [of USMCA] would be very, very problematic,” she said.
