Trump quietly lifted Canada steel tariffs after 14‑month campaign, report says

President Donald Trump moved on May 17, 2019, to lift U.S. steel and aluminum tariffs on Canada and Mexico, ending a yearlong North American trade fight. (ustr.gov) (politico.com) The tariffs had been imposed under Section 232, a national-security law, at 25% on steel and 10% on aluminum. The United States said the duties would be removed within two days, while Canada and Mexico agreed to drop their retaliatory tariffs on U.S. goods. (ustr.gov) (canada.ca) Canada formally lifted its countermeasures on May 20, 2019. Ottawa said those retaliatory tariffs had been imposed dollar-for-dollar after the United States hit Canadian metals in June 2018. (canada.ca) (statcan.gc.ca) The Canadian retaliation covered C$16.6 billion in U.S. imports, including steel, aluminum, and a wider list of consumer and industrial products. Politico reported Canada had also targeted more than $12 billion in U.S. goods, with many of the politically sensitive items tied to farm states. (canada.ca) (politico.com) The immediate political effect was on the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement, the trade pact meant to replace the North American Free Trade Agreement. Politico reported the tariff deal removed a major obstacle to ratification in all three countries. (politico.com) (cnbc.com) The agreement did not fully end the threat of new metals restrictions. The U.S. Trade Representative said Washington kept a monitoring system and reserved the right to reimpose Section 232 tariffs if imports surged, with any Canadian or Mexican retaliation then limited to steel and aluminum. (ustr.gov) (canada.ca) Claims about the tariffs’ jobs record have long been disputed. Econofact said U.S. steelmaking jobs were up by roughly 1,000 between March 2018 and November 2019, while job losses in steel-using industries appeared substantially larger; the Economic Policy Institute later argued the measures directly created 3,200 steelmaking jobs and supported new investment. (pbs.org) (epi.org) What is clear is the date and the mechanism: the rollback was not a recent quiet move, but a formal May 2019 agreement announced by the Trump administration and the Canadian government. The tariffs were lifted as part of a broader bargain to unwind retaliation and clear the path for North America’s new trade pact. (ustr.gov) (canada.ca)