US suspended aluminum and steel tariffs for Brazil and other allies

US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer this Thursday at the Senate Finance Committee (Kevin Lamarque - Reuters)

Some of the United States’ closest trading partners will receive a temporary reprieve from tariffs on aluminum and steel imports, the top US trade official said Thursday, a day before the measures were set to begin. The curbs were expected to be imposed on Friday (23rd March), two weeks after Trump’s signature.

The decision was sure to relieve anxious U.S. partners, even as it raised questions about whether the tariffs would be able to protect US metal industries. Brazil, Argentina, the European Union, South Korea and Australia are on the list US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer announced at a Senate hearing. Canada and Mexico already had been exempted.

World leaders had subjected Washington to a furious lobbying effort to remove the tariff, announced by President Trump earlier this month, warning of a trade war and saying that they did not see why long-standing military allies should face the import taxes on national security grounds, the professed basis for Trump’s action.

“The idea that the president has, is that based on a certain set of criteria, that some countries should get out,” Lighthizer told the Senate hearing. “What he has decided to do is to pause the imposition of the tariffs with respect to those countries.”

Lighthizer said Wednesday that he expected that negotiations about permanent exemptions to the tariffs would be resolved by the end of April, creating pressure on the countries to reach a deal with Washington on measures that would satisfy Trump’s desire to improve their trade relationships with the United States.

Following the exemptions, the countries that will be hit hardest when the steel tariffs take effect Friday will be Russia, Taiwan and Turkey.

Temer: US will start “negotiations” with Brazil

In an announcement made Wednesday (21st March), Brazilian President Michel Temer said the US would start negotiations with Brazil over the new import tariffs on steel and aluminum. While talking about the measure, unveiled in a note by the US government just at that moment, Temer said the new tariff will not be introduced before negotiations are brought to an end.

“I’m looking at a declaration by the White House saying that Brazil is one of the countries with which negotiations are to begin with a view to waiving import tariffs on steel and aluminum. The new tariffs, the message from the White House says, will not apply until conversations are held on the topic. Good news,” the Brazilian President said, during a meeting with the Economic and Social Development Council (CDES).

On Tuesday, Temer talked to a representative from Brazil’s steel-producing industry. In the conversation, the President availed himself of arguments to convince US President Donald Trump to exempt Brazil from the new tariff.

Sources: Agência Brasil, Reuters, The Washington Post