Grassley Warns in WSJ That USMCA Will Be Dead Unless Section 232 Tariffs Are Lifted
Senate Finance Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, wrote an opinion piece published in The Wall Street Journal April 28 that reiterated his often-expressed view that without the end of steel and aluminum tariffs on Canada and Mexico, the new NAFTA will not be ratified. He wrote: "If these tariffs aren’t lifted, USMCA is dead. There is no appetite in Congress to debate USMCA with these tariffs in place." Mexico and Canada have placed retaliatory tariffs on U.S. products, including agriculture, and Grassley said the Mexican tariffs on pork have lowered the value of each hog by $12.
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"I’ve represented Iowa in the Senate for nearly 40 years and have been a family farmer my entire life. I know how important trade agreements are to our country’s farmers. That’s especially true of the North American Free Trade Agreement. Since its passage in 1994, agricultural exports to Canada and Mexico have more than quadrupled. Corn exports increased sevenfold," he wrote.
Even once they're gone, it won't be a cakewalk, he said. "I’ve been involved in the passage of every U.S. free-trade agreement, and it’s never easy. Reorganizing a massive economic relationship affects many constituencies, and that’s inevitably complicated."
Grassley asked the administration again to lift the tariffs and "immediately clear a significant hurdle to passage." He said the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement would provide "more market access for agriculture, new commitments in critical areas such as customs, digital trade and intellectual property, and the lowering of non-tariff barriers will translate into more jobs, higher wages and greater productivity."