The Trump administration has reached a deal with Canada and Mexico to lift steel and aluminum tariffs immediately, marking a significant step forward on the path to approval of the new North American trade pact.

 

The deal clears a major hurdle to ratification of the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement in all three countries and moves President Donald Trump closer to realization of a signature trade achievement that he could tout during his 2020 reelection campaign. It also carries broader significance as it helps to repair frayed ties with two top U.S. allies at the same time that the Trump administration is ramping up trade tensions with China.

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“I'm pleased to announce that we've just reached an agreement with Canada and Mexico, and we'll be selling our product into those countries without the imposition of tariffs or major tariffs. Big difference,” Trump announced in a speech in Washington on Friday.

 

Under the tariff agreement, the U.S. will remove metals duties against Canada and Mexico and will not impose quotas in their place. Trump had imposed the duties last year, relying on a little-used law that allowed him to apply tariffs on goods deemed essential to national security.

 

The tariffs of 25 percent on steel and 10 percent on aluminum, which Trump imposed to defend U.S. national security, will be gone within 48 hours, the three countries announced. In exchange, Canada and Mexico will lift the retaliatory tariffs they had imposed on scores of U.S. products, the bulk of which were American farm goods. Canada had imposed retaliatory tariffs against more than $12 billion in U.S. goods, while Mexico had established similar penalties against more than $3 billion in American exports.