Federal Spotlight: Trump Lifts Tariffs on Canada and Mexico

President Trump announced last Friday that the United States would be removing steel and aluminum tariffs on Canada and Mexico in an effort to help facilitate passage of the new United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) trade accord. The U.S. levied tariffs of 25% on steel and 10% on aluminum nearly a year ago on the grounds of national security and as a means of gaining leverage during negotiations with our top two trading partners. Mexico and Canada, which had implemented duties on certain American goods in response to the U.S. tariffs, subsequently announced they would remove those retaliatory tariffs. The actions by all three nations significantly improve the odds that the USMCA, which is designed to replace NAFTA, will be approved. Though the agreement has been signed, the deal must still be ratified by Congress and the legislatures of Mexico and Canada to go into effect. Gov. Kim Reynolds released a statement after the tariffs were lifted, as well as Senator Grassley and Senator Ernst. This Bloomberg article outlines next steps if an agreement is not reached. Although President Trump has lifted tariffs on Canada and Mexico, there are still tariffs in place on other nations such as China. The business community is hoping to see the trade disputes resolved soon.