WASHINGTON _ President Donald Trump has decided to postpone for another month the decision about whether to impose steep tariffs on steel and aluminum imported from Canada, Mexico and the European Union, senior administration officials said late Monday.
The decision, coming just hours before the previous temporary tariff exemption was set to expire, will prolong the uncertainty and tensions that have built up since Trump issued 25 percent tariffs on imported steel and 10 percent on aluminum from all but a handful of countries.
Trump ordered the tariffs March 22, citing a threat to national security, making plain that he intended to use the duties, or threat of them, as leverage to win concessions from American trading partners.
The Trump administration said that it had reached an agreement in principle with three other countries that had received a similar tariff exemption _ Australia, Argentina and Brazil _ and that these deals would be finalized in the next 30 days.
But Canada, Mexico and the EU are the three largest exporters of steel to the U.S. The delay came after pleas and the threat of retaliation from European allies, as well as signs that Canada and Mexico were moving closer to the U.S. position in renegotiating the North American Free Trade Agreement.
