US President Donald Trump has added more countries to an initial exemption list for the upcoming steel and aluminum tariffs, that will be put in to effect on Friday, March 23.
Canada and Mexico had previously been exempt from the tariff, which would be applied to 25 percent of imported steel and 10 percent of imported aluminum, but other countries were left with tensions on whether, or not, they could also be exempt.
The European Union (EU), Australia, Argentina, Brazil and South Korea will now be exempt from the tariffs of all aluminum and steel imports to the US. Several of these countries had already been attempting to have themselves removed from the tariff application.
The countries mentioned account for more than half of the total amount of steel that was sold to the US, in 2017.
The EU recently announced that it planned to impose a revenue tax on global digital companies, a majority of which are from the US, which also increased tensions between the EU and US, but they can now breathe a sigh of relief.
US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer has said that this will only “pause the imposition of tariffs,” so there is no guarantee that these countries will stay on this list.
Trump’s decision to implement tariffs on steel and aluminum comes from his belief that imported metals will only jeopardize the national security of the US.
Lighthizer says that they are “seeking to build a better, fairer system of global markets that will lead to higher living standards for all Americans,” and that the US is also negotiating trade deals with countries “that will work for Americans.”
They are also attempting to renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement with Canada and Mexico.
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