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Canada went to the negotiating table, so you can understand why Canada and Mexico want the tariffs off before they will enter it before the Senate in Mexico and before Canada will take it up Republican Senator Chuck Grassley

“They believe, and I can understand their belief on this, that these steel and aluminum tariffs were put on to force Canada to the negotiating table,” Grassley said. “Canada went to the negotiating table, so you can understand why Canada and Mexico want the tariffs off before they will enter it before the Senate in Mexico and before Canada will take it up.”

“Canada has been clear from the outset that the 232 tariffs imposed on Canada are illegal and unjustified,” John Babcock, a spokesperson for Global Affairs Canada said in an email. “Now that we have concluded our NAFTA negotiation with the United States, we believe it is all the more reason for the U.S. Administration to lift its tariffs.”

The new NAFTA agreement is facing an uphill climb in Congress with both Republicans and Democrats seeking changes on a range of provisions including environmental and labour enforcement and pharmaceutical patent rules. Business groups and politicians from both parties have also pressed for the tariffs to be removed before the deal is passed.

“I didn’t really have a big problem using tariffs as a negotiating tactic to bring people to the table,” Senator Ron Johnson a Republican from Wisconsin said in a TV interview with WISN on Sunday. “But the president said, Wilbur Ross said, once we have the new NAFTA, the USMCA, signed, the tariffs will go away and they haven’t gone away.

“So, I am concerned about that. People need to understand tariffs are a tax on American consumers. They’re not paid for by China or Mexico or Canada.”

While some concerns about the revised NAFTA – called the United States Canada-Mexico Agreement by Trump — could be handled in side letters, neither Canada nor Mexico want to renegotiate the deal itself, Grassley said.

“I can tell you visiting with the Ambassador from Mexico last week and the Foreign Minister from Canada last week, there isn’t going to be any reopening of renegotiations,” he said. “Mexico’s had their bellyful of these negotiations. They want to get something done.”

• Email: npowell@nationalpost.com | Twitter: naomi_powell