Canada

Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue said Monday that his department has been telling the White House and U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer that the steel and aluminum tariffs on Canada and Mexico should be lifted.

“You can have the best language on any subject in a bill, but if you don't have the enforcement provisions very strongly spelled out – not as a sidebar, not as a side letter, but central to the treaty – then there's a problem.”

U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer on Tuesday submitted to Capitol Hill changes to existing laws he says will be needed to bring the U.S. into compliance with the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement.

“The 232s are doing nothing but allowing others to gain market share in the U.S.”

In a letter to Ross and Lighthizer, the associations say they “wish to underscore the importance of lifting tariffs on steel and aluminum imports and the removal of all retaliatory tariffs on trade among the parties.”

“Subjecting shipments from Canada and Mexico to a reciprocal threshold would place administrative and cost burdens on small businesses, increase complexity for U.S. Customs and Border Protection, and start a global race to lower thresholds – undermining U.S. e-commerce leadership.”

Incoming Senate Finance Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-IA) said on Wednesday that if Democrats insist on re-opening trade talks with Canada and Mexico, the president should “pull out” of the North American Free Trade Agreement.

A coalition of business groups focused on getting the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement through Congress is slated to be launched in the coming weeks, Inside U.S. Trade has learned.

Mexican legislation to establish labor reforms called for in the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement is unlikely to be passed before a Jan. 1 deadline included in the pact, leaving sources and lawmakers questioning whether the timing of the deal’s entry into force might be impacted.