The Trump administration will impose new duties on steel and aluminum imports from three key trading partners — the European Union, Canada and Mexico — after failing to reach deals with them to address national security concerns related to the imports, Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said Thursday.
The decision, which comes just days after President Donald Trump broke a cease-fire in an escalating trade dispute with China, is certain to inflame relations with the three trading partners and invite retaliation.
The three allies were previously given temporary exemptions from the duties — 25 percent on steel imports and 10 percent on aluminum. In the case of Canada and Mexico, the U.S. had hoped to address its national security concerns in the context of ongoing efforts to renegotiate NAFTA, but those talks have taken longer than expected and there is now no precise end date in sight, Ross said. Talks with the European Union made some progress, but not enough to warrant a permanent exemption or another temporary exemption, he said.
The European Union has already notified the World Trade Organization of plans to levy duties on $7.1 billion worth of U.S. exports in response, with the aim of collecting $1.6 billion in tariff revenue. Canada and Mexico have also threatened retaliation, but have not publicly indicated which U.S. products they would hit.
The Trump administration imposed the duties on imports from most other U.S. trading partners earlier this year to stem a flood of cheap steel and aluminum into the country. The administration had determined that imports of the metals threatened national security by undermining domestic production in those sectors. A handful of other U.S. trading partners, including South Korea, Australia, Argentina and Brazil, previously won permanent exemptions by agreeing to quotas on their exports.