Canada

The Trump administration will have its hands full in 2019, with new talks slated to begin with Brussels, Tokyo, London and potentially more, as well as the implementation of a revised deal with South Korea. The fate of the U.S.-Mexico -Canada Agreement will also be determined next year by a new Congress.

Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) would support President Trump's intervention into the controversial case of Huawei Technologies' chief financial officer, arrested in Canada earlier this month, if it facilitated trade negotiations between the U.S. and China, he told Inside U.S. Trade on Wednesday.

Donohue says Section 232 tariffs on steel and aluminum must be lifted and urges the president not to withdraw from NAFTA.

The president could issue a notice of withdrawal from the North American Free Trade Agreement as early as this week, sources familiar with the plans told Inside U.S. Trade.

“I've said this again and again. I said it was a work in progress. I know it's work, I hope it's progress.”

Even as U.S. industry groups applauded the signing of the new U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement on Friday, they made clear their continued frustration that Section 232 tariffs on steel and aluminum imports remained.

BUENOS AIRES -- U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer is confident the trilateral trade deal inked by the U.S., Mexico and Canada will garner enough support in Congress -- and he is adamant that “a very high number of Democrats” will vote for the implementing legislation.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau called GM's recent plant closings a “heavy blow,” adding, “and Donald, it's all the more reason why we need to keep working to remove the tariffs on steel and aluminum between our countries.”

BUENOS AIRES – The U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement will be signed on Friday without the countries reaching a resolution on Section 232 steel and aluminum tariffs, sources tell Inside U.S. Trade, though trade ministers worked through the night on the issue.