Donald Trump’s steel and aluminum tariffs contradict a key component of the new North American trade agreement – the pivotal section on autos – which will ultimately lead to their demise, Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland says.
U.S. businesses are making that argument, and Ms. Freeland said that gives momentum to Canada’s continuing efforts to have the levies lifted in 2019.
The minister said Canada’s fight to remove the tariffs, imposed by the U.S. President, is being aided by the broader calls from American business to have them lifted before the new continental trade pact is ratified.
Their argument centres on the fact that a major section of the new agreement – known as the Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement, or CUSMA – focuses on raising the content requirements of North American-built cars, Ms. Freeland said. The rules on origin for automobiles were a key sticking point throughout the contentious 14-month renegotiation of the North American free-trade agreement.
During the negotiation, Mr. Trump also imposed a 25-per-cent tariff on Canadian and Mexican steel and 10 per cent on aluminum, using a section of U.S. trade law that gives the Oval Office the authority to do so under a national security provision...
This has been excerpted from the 18 December 2018 edition of The Globe and Mail.