News

USDEC’s Vilsack says lifting steel & aluminum tariffs is a good first step

The President of the U.S. Dairy Export Council says President Trump’s removal of tariffs on Canada and Mexico, including steel and aluminum tariffs, is a good first step to getting the USMCA trade deal ratified. “There were many Members of Congress that were unwilling to even consider a vote on USMCA as long as the steel and aluminum tariffs were in place. Now that they are being removed and the retaliatory tariffs on our agricultural products will also be removed by Canada and Mexico. That basically removes that barrier.”

Tom Vilsack tells Brownfield lifting the tariffs should provide a boost of confidence in the agricultural sector.  He says the Trump administration recognized the need to lift these tariffs. “It looks like China may take some time. We’re still certainly still in the process of beginning negotiations with Japan, so the easiest and best way to get that forward momentum was to make a move to put USMCA back in the spotlight, and I think that’s what this has done.”

Vilsack says the new agreement sets up a way to monitor inappropriate amounts of steel and aluminum moving between the countries and it opens the door for all three countries to ratify the USMCA deal, which he says needs to happen sooner and not later. 

Vilsack says this will lead to Mexico dropping cheese tariffs, which should have a positive impact on U.S. dairy farmers before USMCA is ratified.