Investment firm Goldman Sachs said Friday that President Trump’s decision to impose tariffs on steel and aluminum imports likely signals that the administration will eventually pull the U.S. out of the North American Free Trade Agreement.
Trump announced tariffs of 25 percent on steel imports and 10 percent on aluminum imports on Thursday, and justified them as a way to protect U.S. national security.
“Unlike routine antidumping and countervailing duty cases or less common safeguard cases, the Section 232 authority the President will apparently use is rarely used and more controversial,” wrote Jan Hatzius, chief economist at Goldman Sachs, according to CNBC. “There is a good chance that this could eventually lead the President to announce he intends to withdraw from NAFTA, but such an announcement does not appear likely in the near term.”
Trump has previously threatened to pull the U.S. out of 1993 trade deal with Canada and Mexico if talks to renegotiate it come up short. The last round of talks is currently ongoing in Mexico City, The talks have been rocky, and by most accounts, Canada and Mexico are resisting most of the U.S. demands.
On Thursday morning, Trump took on critics of his trade policies by tweeting, “When a country (USA) is losing many billions of dollars on trade with virtually every country it does business with, trade wars are good, and easy to win.” In another tweet, he said, “We must protect our country and our workers. Our steel industry is in bad shape. IF YOU DON’T HAVE STEEL, YOU DON’T HAVE A COUNTRY!”
