US President Donald Trump vowed Monday he will not back down on imposing steep tariffs on steel and aluminium on Canada and Mexico unless he gets a \u201cfair\u201d deal to revamp the North American Free Trade Agreement.<\/p>\n
He also criticized the European Union for the trade barriers on US companies and repeated his threat to slap tariffs on European car imports if Brussels retaliates against the steel tariffs.<\/p>\n
Speaking as US, Mexican and Canadian trade officials were gathered in Mexico City for the final day of the seventh round of talks aimed at modernizing and modifying NAFTA, Trump doubled down on the threat he made on Twitter early Monday.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo, we\u2019re not backing down,\u201d Trump told reporters following his Oval Office meeting with embattled Israeli leader Benjamin Netanyahu. \u201cThere will be tariffs on steel for Canada and for Mexico.\u201d<\/p>\n
But the US leader who prides himself on his ability to negotiate business deals, and last week said trade wars were \u201cgood, and easy to win,\u201d said the tariffs could depend on the outcome of the NAFTA talks. Those negotiations that already had hit serious roadblocks over US demands.<\/p>\n
Trump\u2019s surprise announcement last week that he plans to impose tariffs of 25% on steel imports and 10% on aluminium, sparked a fierce global response, including from NAFTA partners Canada and Mexico.<\/p>\n
Trade experts and officials in Ottawa and Mexico City raised the possibility the neighbouring nations could be exempt from new measures, but the president rejected that possibility and raised the stakes by holding the NAFTA talks hostage to the tariffs.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have had a bad deal with Mexico. Very bad deal with Canada,\u201d Trump said. \u201cOur factories have left our country, our jobs have left our country. For many years, NAFTA has been a disaster.\u201d<\/p>\n
And without a deal \u201cthat\u2019s fair to the workers and the American people,\u201d he will terminate NAFTA, he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cTariffs on Steel and Aluminium will only come off if new & fair NAFTA agreement is signed,\u201d Trump said in one of a series of morning tweets.<\/p>\n
Canada, which has the most to lose as the top source of US steel to the US market, has called the tariffs \u201cunacceptable.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mexico\u2019s Economy Minister Ildefonso Guajardo in a tweet said the threat is \u201cthe wrong way to incentivise the creation of a new & modern NAFTA.\u201d<\/p>\n
Despite Trump\u2019s tweet claiming there is a large trade deficit with Canada, in fact the United States maintains a trade surplus with its northern neighbour of nearly $8 billion in 2016, and nearly $3 billion in the first nine months of 2017.<\/p>\n
The US has a deficit with Mexico that was $63 billion in 2016, and $52 billion in the first three quarters of last year.<\/p>\n
Trump administration officials frequently refer to the deficit in goods alone, excluding the offset from dominant US services exports of things like banking and insurance.<\/p>\n
Trump ignited fears of a trade war and an outcry from major trading partners with his surprise announcement about the steel and aluminium tariffs, and an even broader threat to impose reciprocal tariffs on all imports from countries that impose duties on US exports.<\/p>\n
\u201cPeople have to understand, our country on trade has been ripped off by virtually every country in the world,\u201d even by \u201cpeople that we think are wonderful,\u201d Trump said Monday.<\/p>\n
Repeating his concern about the US trade deficit of $800 billion last year, he said \u201cthe biggest problem is China.\u201d<\/p>\n
While Trump said he did not think there would be a trade war, US trading partners already are preparing to retaliate, and have pledged to file a dispute in the World Trade Organization.<\/p>\n
French President Emmanuel Macron said Monday the European Union must \u201creact quickly\u201d to US plans that clearly breached WTO rules.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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