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Although the Trump administration has temporarily exempted Canada and Mexico from the upcoming steel and aluminum tariffs, that exemption could be ended at any time. If he ends the exemption and applies the 25% steel and 10% aluminum tariffs to Canada and/or Mexico, and assuming that he hasn't withdrawn the US from NAFTA (or the withdrawal hasn't taken effect) yet, would that violate either:

  1. The NAFTA trade agreement between the US, Canada, and Mexico? and/or

  2. The NAFTA Implementation Act passed by the US Congress?

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  • I'm almost certain that it would, but the law and treaty are not easy reading and I won't venture an answer until reading it. – ohwilleke Mar 26 '18 at 9:35
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NAFTA was designed to create a free-trade zone between Canada, the United States and Mexico when it was signed in 1994. However, it doesn’t include any provisions to protect against tariffs.

NAFTA does have special dispute resolution mechanisms that could deal with U.S. trade actions.

Source: https://www.nafta-sec-alena.org/Home/Texts-of-the-Agreement/Code-of-Conduct

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