President Trump said Monday he’s not backing down on his vow to impose tariffs on steel and aluminum unless Canada and Mexico renegotiate a trade deal more favorably for the U.S.
“We’re not backing down,” Mr. Trump told reporters at the White House. “If they aren’t going to make a fair NAFTA deal, we’re just going to leave it this way.”
Mr. Trump has said he’ll sign tariffs this week of 25 percent on steel imports and 10 percent on aluminum, duties expected to hit all countries exporting those products to the U.S. He reiterated Monday that he doesn’t believe the action will cause a trade war.
The administration is also trying to renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement with Canada and Mexico. The president said he just spoke on Monday to negotiators in Mexico City.
“If I do make a deal which is fair to the workers and to the American people, that would be, I would imagine, one of the points that we’ll negotiate, will be tariffs on steel for Canada and for Mexico,” the president said.
He said “right now” he still supports the tariffs “100 percent.”
“Mexico and really Canada want to talk about it,” he said. “But people have to understand, our country on trade has been ripped off by virtually every country in the world. They have trade barriers which are worse than tariffs.”
• Dave Boyer can be reached at dboyer@washingtontimes.com.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.