Canada’s ambassador to the U.S. optimistic on the lifting of section 232 tariffs in a few weeks

In a positive development, Canada’s ambassador to the U.S. David MacNaughton told reporters on Thursday that the steel and aluminium tariffs imposed on Canada by U.S. President Donald Trump should be lifted “in the next few weeks,”.  He expressed his confidence that the end of the trade war is approaching.

"It is obviously difficult to predict accurately exactly what is going to happen here — there are many moving parts, there are other distractions — but I'm confident that we're going to get there in the next few weeks," MacNaughton said. 

Trump imposed 25 per cent tariff on steel and the 10 per cent tariff on aluminium imported from all countries in March 2018, which started a trade war between the U.S. and its closed allies and prompted counter-tariffs on a wide range of goods from the U.S. Trump defended the “Section 232” tariffs on grounds of “national security.”

MacNaughton said that the Canadian government was pushing hard for the lifting of tariffs and the counter tariffs imposed by Canada were already affecting the American companies. Last week, Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland insisted that since trade negotiations with the U.S. were over and the USMCA was signed, “that is all the more reason why these tariffs ought to be lifted.”

A new trade deal between Canada, the U.S., and Mexico (USMCA) that replaced NAFTA was signed in November 2018. MacNaughton made the comments in Washington yesterday during a daylong free-trade forum hosted by the Canadian American Business Council. 

"I think we're going to resolve it in a positive way in the next short while," he said confidently.