Washington sources reported that Donald Trump has temporarily excluded six countries, including Canada and Mexico, and European Union states from higher US import duties on steel and aluminum meant to come into effect on Friday. Meanwhile in a presidential proclamation published late on Thursday, Trump said he would suspend tariffs for Argentina, Australia, Brazil, South Korea, Canada, Mexico and the European Union, the US's biggest trading partner, until May 1, 2018 as discussions continue.
According to sources after May 1, Trump would decide whether to permanently exempt the countries based on the status of talks. Meanwhile the White House said in a statement that the United States was set to begin imposing the higher import duties of 25 percent on steel and 10 percent on aluminium, mainly aimed at curbing imports from China, as of 12:01 a.m. on Friday.
Presently Canada and Mexico are in the midst of
renegotiating the North American Free Trade Agreement with the United States.
Moreover Trump had said Canada and Mexico would only be excluded after the
successful renegotiation of NAFTA. Furthermore Trump said South Korea was listed because of its important security
relationship with the United States, "including our shared commitment to
eliminating the North Korean nuclear threat."
