US President Donald Trump (L) welcomes Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau at the White House in Washington, D.C., the United States, on June 20, 2019. (Xinhua/Ting Shen)

Canada and the US on Tuesday narrowly avoided a trade war, after Washington walked back a 10 percent levy on Canadian aluminum imports and Ottawa dropped its threat of counter-tariffs.

The US announced that its duty-free treatment will be retroactive to September 1.

However, the Office of the US Trade Representative (USTR) published a list of expected maximum monthly shipments of aluminum, and warned it will reimpose the tariff if imports exceed those amounts.

"After consultations with the Canadian government, the United States has determined that trade in non-alloyed, unwrought aluminum is likely to normalize in the last four months of 2020, with imports declining sharply from the surges experienced earlier in the year," USTR said in a statement.

"Accordingly, the United States will modify the terms of the 10 percent tariff imposed in August."

At a news conference in Ottawa, Canadian Trade Minister Mary Ng welcomed the US decision to lift its tariffs.

As such, she said, "Canada will not be imposing reciprocal counter-measures on the United States."

Canadian Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland, also on hand, said she was glad that "common sense has prevailed," again rejecting the US' national security justification for the tariffs on a close ally.

Freeland added that, however, "There are no guarantees going forward, as we have learned in our trading relationship with this administration."

"That's why our approach is to hope for the best and prepare for the worst. That's why we've been clear that we will impose retaliatory tariffs if tariffs are levied against our exports," Freeland said.

AFP