Grassley Open to Section 232 Tariff on Canadian Aluminum if No Cooperation on Import Surge
Senate Finance Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, celebrated the switchover from NAFTA to the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement -- coming July 1 -- but also talked about a trade irritant with Canada and one with Mexico in a conference call with reporters June 30.
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There were reports that the U.S. is considering restoring 10% tariffs on Canadian aluminum, and Grassley said that while “it ought to be settled peacefully, not by our putting tariffs on,” if Canada “isn't making a serious effort to solve the [import] surge problem,” he would be all right with U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer returning to tariffs. “It might surprise you I’d say that,” Grassley admitted on the call, given how hard he had to fight to get the Section 232 tariffs rolled back on Canadian and Mexican metal imports.
With Mexico, Grassley repeated, as he did in early June, his belief that Lighthizer will have to open a dispute over Mexico's stalling on approving biotech products (see 2006090040 and 2006040031). He said that Mexican officials “have offered no satisfactory explanation” for the refusal to approve the products.
Grassley said he was glad to help get USMCA approved in the Senate, and cited its improvements to sanitary and phytosanitary standards, intellectual property and customs, and the addition of a digital trade chapter. “The changes that were negotiated by Trump [administration officials] will officially shape the decisions business makes for long-term investment, importing, exporting, setting up supply chains for the North American market,” he said.