The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s undersecretary for trade and foreign agricultural affairs says he wants American tariffs on Canadian exports of steel and aluminium products removed as soon as possible so that a revised North American trade deal can be ratified.

 

In an exclusive interview with iPolitics on Wednesday, Ted McKinney said he personally wants the tariffs removed and knows there are many in Canada who do not want the pending replacement of the North American Free Trade Agreement ratified before those tariffs are gone.

 

“It’s not as simple as (the tariffs) are sitting there and there’s great hope that it’ll just happen on its own. There’ll have to be further negotiations,” he said, but stressed he is not the lead negotiator on the file.

 

“I believe some how, some way those tariffs will come off,” he continued, adding many within the U.S. agriculture industry want the tariffs gone, too.

 

McKinney was in Ottawa on Wednesday for a series of meetings with U.S. embassy and Canadian officials from several federal departments, including Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, Global Affairs Canada and Health Canada. He is scheduled to give a speech at a Conference Board of Canada event and meet with Ontario Agriculture Ernie Hardeman in Toronto on Thursday.

 

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