May 19, Ottawa. Canada will act quickly to ratify a new North American trade pact, Foreign Secretary Christia Freeland said Saturday, a day after the United States agreed to lift tariffs on Canadian steel and aluminum.
Metals tariffs have been a major irritant for Canada and Mexico and have forced them to halt progress in ratifying the new United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA), a tripartite trade agreement signed last year that will replace the 25-year North American Agreement on free trade (NAFTA).
“It was very clear to us that as long as there were tariffs (for steel, -ed.), it would be very, very difficult for us to ratify the new NAFTA, and that is why we did not submit the bill,” Freeland said in an interview on CBC Radio ...
US Vice President Mike Pence said Friday that he will meet with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in Ottawa on May 30 to discuss "ratification".
While some Democrats in the United States have welcomed the lifting of tariffs, many said on Friday that the USMCA is not yet ready to support them.
Freeland said Canada is in the process of reaching out to American Democrats to allay their concerns.
Despite the breakthrough on tariffs and the USMCA agreement last year, Freeland said Canada is still worried about US protectionism.
“I'm still worried about American protectionism, and I think it would be naive to think that there is any kind of permanent protection or security. The reality is that this US administration is openly, frankly and proudly engaging in protectionism, ”Freeland said.
As observers note, the decision to lift the duties was taken in exchange for Ottawa's actions aimed at preventing the import of Chinese steel into the United States from Canada.
Recall that on June 1, 2018, the United States introduced 25 percent duties on steel imports and 10 percent duties on aluminum imports from the EU, Canada and Mexico to protect its domestic market. Soon, Ottawa reacted to such actions by the United States and introduced a series of restrictive measures on American goods totaling 16.6 billion Canadian dollars (12.6 billion US dollars). The duties introduced by Canada concerned, in particular, American steel and aluminum, as well as certain food products such as coffee, ketchup, yoghurts and whiskey.
