Trudeau urges ‘Donald’ to scrap metals tariffs amid USMCA signing

The leaders of U.S., Canada and Mexico signed a new trade deal Friday to replace the long-standing North American Free Trade Agreement, but tensions remain over steel and aluminum tariffs.

"As I discussed with President Trump a few days ago, the recent plant closures by General Motors, which affects thousands of Canadian and American workers and their families, are a heavy blow,” Trudeau said alongside U.S. President Donald Trump and Mexico’s outgoing President Enrique Pena Nieto on the sidelines of the highly-anticipated G20 summit in Buenos Aires before the new trade pact was officially signed.

“Make no mistake, we will stand up for our workers and fight for their families and their communities. And Donald, it's all the more reason why we need to keep working to remove the tariffs on steel and aluminum between our countries."

The U.S. continues to push for a quota in exchange for lifting the tariffs on Canada and Mexico, which have applied their own retaliatory levies. Canada has said it will lift its tariffs once the U.S. lifts its own.

With files from Bloomberg News