The Iowa senator linked removal of steel and aluminum tariffs on Canada and Mexico to a favorable congressional process of the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement.
For the second time in just over a week, Senate Finance Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, on Monday called on the Trump administration to remove Section 232 tariffs on Canada and Mexico prior to congressional approval of the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA).
“I’d like to see a resolution with Canada and Mexico on steel and aluminum tariffs,” Grassley (pictured above) said on the Senate floor, “one that would acknowledge that we need our allies to help us deal with the source of the overcapacity problems. And that source of the problem is China. I urge President Trump to lift the 232 tariffs so we can forge ahead with United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement and eliminate the uncertainty in the North American market.”
Last Monday, Grassley called on the administration to “promptly” remove the tariffs, which he said would help clear the path for USMCA through Congress.
“The agreement for Mexico, Canada and the United States is supposed to be a free trade agreement,” Grassley said last Monday. “But we don’t have free trade with these tariffs in place. As Finance Committee chairman, I look forward to helping the president with this important task.”
