Abstract

RAMIREZ ORTIZ, Derzu Daniel. National Security Laws as Part of U.S. Trade Policy toward Its North American Partners. Norteamérica [online]. 2021, vol.16, n.1, pp.93-120.  Epub Oct 25, 2021. ISSN 2448-7228.  https://doi.org/10.22201/cisan.24487228e.2021.1.439.

This article deals with the Trump administration’s use of Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act and the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) in its trade policy toward its North American partners. Using a political economy approach and based on case studies, the author argues that these laws have gone from being tools for dealing with rival countries to power resources for obtaining concessions from Canada and Mexico both in trade and in other spheres of their relations. Specifically, in looking at Section 232, he examines the case of tariffs on steel and aluminum levied against Canada and Mexico. Regarding the IEEPA, he refers to the tariffs the United States threatened to levy against Mexico in 2019. Based on that, the article identifies the ways in which U.S. authorities have reinterpreted the stipulations in the laws in order to use them to bring their market power to bear in regional negotiations. The article concludes with a general explanation of a strategy available to Canada and Mexico to counter the United States’ current use of its national security legislation.

Keywords : Section 232; IEEPA; national security; tariffs; market power.