A quota-for-lower-tariffs trade, floated once before, is back on the table as the clock runs down on Washington's deadline.

Canadian trade negotiators are reviving a proposal that would cap the volume of steel and aluminum shipped to the United States in exchange for Washington reducing its 50% tariff on those metals — a trade-off that was on the table in earlier talks and is now back in play as the deadline approaches.

Why a quota, not a tariff fight

For steel and aluminum producers, a predictable volume cap at a lower tariff can be more workable than an unpredictable, unrestricted tariff rate — it trades away some upside on shipment volume for certainty on cost per tonne, which matters more to producers locking in supply contracts months in advance.