ICYMI, President Trump, long unhappy with NAFTA, is in the process renegotiating the 24-year-old free trade agreement with leaders from Canada and Mexico. If adopted, the agreement will be renamed the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement, or U.S.M.C.A. and will attempt to bring more automobile production to the U.S. and reduce barriers for American farmers selling dairy products to Canada, among other changes. What’s the new agreement doesn’t do is lift tariffs on aluminum imports.
Statement from Jim McGreevy, Beer Institute President and CEO, that the United States will continue tariffs on aluminum following the announcement of a revised trade deal among the United States, Canada, and Mexico:
“It is disappointing that President Trump did not lift tariffs on aluminum as the United States, Canada, and Mexico announced a new trade agreement. Aluminum used to make beer cans has nothing to do with our nation’s national security, and continuing to impose these tariffs on some of the United States’ closest allies unnecessarily increases costs on our nation’s vibrant beer industry–which is a crown jewel for American manufacturing.
“As has been documented in press reports, these tariffs are hurting American companies while benefiting foreign-owned aluminum manufacturers. Tariffs are taxes. It is time for President Trump to end the tariff on aluminum so America’s more than 5,600 breweries can continue to innovate, support good-paying jobs, and make beer–our nation’s most popular alcohol beverage.”
