Finance Minister Bill Morneau said the ongoing U.S.-China trade dispute is distracting from talks aimed at solving the steel tariffs issue between Canada and its largest trading partner.
At an event in Montreal Friday, Morneau said the Americans’ Pacific trade row puts “multiple challenges on their plate.”
This story by Christopher Reynolds appeared in Automotive News Canada.
“That means we’ve got a challenge in getting this focused on in the near term,” he said.
Morneau said his office is in contact daily with U.S. officials as well as metal producers and purchasers, but could not offer a timeline for an end to the tariffs.
U.S. President Donald Trump slapped tariffs of 25 percent and 10 percent on steel and aluminum imports, respectively, from Canada in May, prompting retaliatory tariffs by Canada on $16.6 billion worth of U.S. goods.
Meanwhile, American tariffs against China have triggered a tit-for-tat trade war affecting hundreds of billions of dollars in goods over the past year.