Canadian Foreign Minister clears the country's stand on USMCA and U.S. tariffs on steel and aluminium

Canadian Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland reiterated Canada’s stand on USMCA and U.S. tariffs on steel and aluminium imports from Canada on Saturday. In a call with media she cleared that in a meeting with U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi at the Munich Security Conference; she discussed the importance of lifting of tariffs from Canada. She emphasised that though Canada is focusing on its domestic ratification process for the U.S.-Mexico-Canada (USMCA) trade deal, it remains strongly against the tariffs.

The fact that Canada has peacefully concluded the USMCA process, remains the key reason for lifting the punitive tariffs, she said.

“We spoke a lot about the [Section] 232 steel and aluminium tariffs and I explained why Canada is so strongly opposed to them and why Canada believes they must be lifted,” Freeland added.

She also discussed about Canada’s retaliatory tariffs with Pelosi and how they are having an impact on the U.S. market. Freeland also confirmed that she discussed the matter earlier with U.S. Senate Finance Committee chair Sen. Chuck Grassley.

She called Trump’s justification of the tariffs on the basis of national security “specious and absurd”. She negotiated with the senator on the tariffs. Freeland made the government’s stand clear after the Republican comment that Trump’s tariffs were standing in the way of the ratification of USMCA.

It is to be noted that the USMCA cannot be finalized unless approved by lawmakers in Canada, the U.S. and Mexico.