US President Donald Trump signs the USMCA on the South Lawn of the White House in January. Photo: AFP
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https://scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3091805/justin-trudeau-says-he-might-skip-usmca-summit United States & Canada
Justin Trudeau says he might skip USMCA summit with Donald Trump, citing coronavirus and US tariff threat
- Canadian PM appears prepared to stay home while US and Mexican counterparts meet in Washington to commemorate new trade pact
- US has been threatening to reimpose 10 per cent aluminium tariff in bid to slow exports from Canada
Canadian PM Justin Trudeau has warned that if the Trump administration puts tariffs back on Canadian aluminium, it would raise input costs for American manufacturers and hurt the US economy. Photo: AFP
This story is published in a content partnership with POLITICO. It was originally reported by Andy Blatchford on politico.com on July 3, 2020.
Justin Trudeau is pointing to the threat of fresh US tariffs and the coronavirus pandemic as reasons he might skip a meeting in Washington next week with President Donald Trump and Mexico's Andrés Manuel López Obrador to mark the new continental trade deal.
The Canadian prime minister made the comments on Friday when asked by a reporter about his invitation to meet his North American counterparts to commemorate the trade pact, which came into force this week.
Trump and López Obrador are expected to meet on July 8-9. Trudeau appears prepared stay home from the USMCA celebration.
“We’re still in discussions with the Americans about whether a trilateral summit next week makes sense,” Trudeau told a press conference near Ottawa.
“We’re obviously concerned about the proposed issue of tariffs on aluminium and steel that the Americans have floated recently. We’re also concerned about the health situation and the coronavirus reality that is still hitting all three of our countries.”
The US has been pressuring Ottawa to put quotas on Canadian aluminium exports to slow a rush in shipments, or face the reintroduction of a 10 per cent tariff, multiple people familiar with the issue told POLITICO last week.
Last month, US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer told a Senate Finance Committee hearing of recent surges in imported steel and aluminium, “substantially from Canada, some from Mexico”.
The US imposed steel and aluminium duties on Canada and Mexico for a year, citing national security grounds, before lifting them for both countries in 2019. Canada had retaliated with tariffs of its own on US goods.
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The agreement, however, to remove the levies stated the US could reimpose them after consulting Canada and “in the event that imports of aluminium or steel products surge meaningfully beyond historic volumes of trade over a period of time.”
The reintroduction of US tariffs would create new cross-border tensions and likely lead to new retaliatory duties from Canada.
Earlier this week, Trudeau warned that if the Trump administration put tariffs back on Canadian aluminium it would raise input costs for American manufacturers and hurt the US economy.
“We have heard obviously the musings and proposals from the United States [that] perhaps there needs to be more tariffs on aluminium,” he told reporters on Monday.
“What we simply highlight is the United States needs Canadian aluminium. They do not produce enough, nowhere near enough aluminium in the States, to be able to fill their domestic manufacturing needs.”
The pandemic is another issue Trudeau must consider before any trip to Washington. On Friday, Trudeau was also asked if visiting the US would mean he would have to self-isolate upon his return.
“These are obviously conversations that we’re having both with the Americans and with public health officials here in Canada,” he said. “But I can assure you that at all times we will follow all the rules and all the advice of public health.”