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09:36, 01-May-2018
US delays metals tariffs on EU, Canada, Mexico for 30 days
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US President Donald Trump opted Monday to hold fire on imposing steel and aluminum tariffs on the European Union, Canada, and Mexico for 30 days, the White House announced – offering key allies a reprieve during ongoing negotiations.
Washington has also reached "agreements in principle" with Argentina, Australia, and Brazil, "the details of which will be finalized shortly," the White House said.
The decision came just hours before temporary exemptions were set to expire at 12:01 a.m. ET (0401 GMT) on Tuesday.
Trump imposed a 25-percent tariff on steel imports and a 10-percent tariff on aluminum in March but granted temporary exemptions to Canada, Mexico, Brazil, the European Union, Australia, and Argentina. He also granted a permanent exemption on steel tariffs to South Korea.
Trump administration officials have said that in lieu of tariffs, steel, and aluminum exporting countries would have to agree to quotas designed to achieve similar protections for US producers. South Korea’s permanent exemption is in exchange for having agreed to cut its steel exports to the United States by about 30 percent.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said on Monday that any move by the United States to impose tariffs on Canadian steel and aluminum would be a “very bad idea” guaranteed to disrupt trade between the two countries.
Canada is the largest source of steel imports into the United States, with a steel industry that is highly integrated with its southern neighbor.
Trump has invoked a 1962 trade law to erect protections for US steel and aluminum producers on national security grounds.
If the EU is subject to tariffs on the 6.4 billion euros (7.7 billion US dollars) of the metals it exports annually to the United States, it has said it will set its own duties on 2.8 billion euros of US exports of products ranging from makeup to motorcycles.
Source(s): AFP
,Reuters