CANADA URGES STEELWORKERS DROP ALUMINUM CASE: The United Steelworkers union focused their anger and attention on China when they rolled out a petition Monday asking for a 50 percent emergency duty on imports of primary aluminum to save American jobs. But a closer look at the union's filing reveals that about 66 percent of the imports come from Canada, causing major concern up north.

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¡°Canada is deeply troubled by the action initiated by the US steelworkers union to curb the imports of aluminum from Canada,¡± Alex Lawrence, a spokesman for Canadian Trade Minister Chrystia Freeland, said in an email to POLITICO. ¡°Restrictions on Canadian exports will do nothing to deal with global overcapacity. Canada and the United States must address this issue of overcapacity in a strategic manner, together, and in the interests of all our workers.¡±

Lawrence urged the steelworkers to drop their safeguard petition before it causes ¡°serious disruption to well-developed supply chains.¡± Rio Tinto, a major metals company with operations in both Canada and the United States, also expressed alarm over the case.

"Currently the US has a 3.4 million ton shortfall in primary aluminum production, and Canada provides over 2.2 million tons as part of an integrated North American manufacturing supply chain,¡± a Rio Tinto company spokesman said. ¡°Imposition of a 50 percent tariff would significantly raise prices for US manufacturers that use aluminum to produce cars, building material, packaging and medical equipment. Significant cost increases could jeopardize employment at these US manufacturers and increase cost to US consumers.¡±

IT¡¯S WEDNESDAY, APRIL 20! Welcome to Morning Trade, where we¡¯re counting the days to the 400th anniversary of William Shakespeare¡¯s death on Saturday. What play title best sums up the nation¡¯s debate over trade? ¡°The Tempest,¡± one might say, or ¡°The Comedy of Errors,¡± if you take a harsher view. Methinks ¡°All¡¯s Well That Ends Well¡± could be the administration¡¯s choice, or at least hope. Got a Shakespeare quote that sums up your feelings on trade? Let me know at dpalmer@politico.com. Here¡¯s mine: ¡°TPP or not TPP, that is the question.¡±

OVERALL ALUMINUM EMPLOYMENT UP: The Aluminum Association is out today with a new report that shows U.S. employment in the aluminum sector now totals nearly 161,000 jobs, up from roughly 157,000 in 2013, reflecting growth in downstream sectors like flat-roll products, extruded products and foundries. However, the gain masks a big drop in aluminum refining and primary aluminum production from 12,787 jobs to 5,379 jobs over the same period.

¡°While we¡¯re pleased to see the net growth in our industry¡¯s jobs footprint, it¡¯s important not to lose sight of the significant job losses we¡¯ve seen in certain segments, which is largely a consequence of overproduction of aluminum in China,¡± Heidi Brock, president and CEO of the aluminum industry group, said. To read more, click here.

CHINA: DON¡¯T BLAME US FOR WORLD STEEL WOES: China pushed back at U.S. industry charges that it¡¯s to blame for the global steel glut depressing world prices, saying it is doing its part to cut excess steel production capacity and other countries should refrain from protectionist measures to address the adverse market conditions.

"Chinese steel production capacity mainly satisfies domestic demand," the Chinese Ministry of Commerce said in a statement Tuesday following steel trade talks between China, the United States and more than 30 other countries a day earlier in Brussels hosted by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.

"China not only provides no subsidy to stimulate steel export, but also imposes export tariff on certain kinds of steel products,¡± the ministry said. ¡°China also imports a large amount of steel products, offering a huge market for global steel products. In the future, China will continue to have sustained and healthy economic development and there is still much potential for steel demand."

Steel indigestion: China¡¯s lead representative to the OECD talks, Assistant Minister of Commerce Zhang Ji, tried to explain the situation in terms everyone could understand. ¡°Steel is the ¡®food¡¯ for industries and economic development,¡± Ji said. ¡°After the international financial crisis, the key problem now is that the ¡®food¡¯ consuming parties are ill and have bad appetite, so it seems that there is too much ¡®food.¡¯¡± U.S. LEADS JOINT STEEL STATEMENT AT OECD: In contrast, U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman and Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzker hailed a joint statement the United States reached this week with Canada, the European Union, Japan, Mexico, South Korea, Switzerland and Turkey calling for actions to reduce excess production capacity, including the elimination of subsidies. ¡°It is our shared goal that other economies, including China, will come to recognize the value of these actions and will join our collective effort to address the causes of the current excess capacity problem,¡± Froman and Pritzker said. ENGAGE CUBA COALITION MULLS CHANCES FOR TRAVEL BAN VOTE: Advocates of lifting the embargo on Cuba said they are gearing up for votes this summer on two shorter-term goals: lifting the travel ban and allowing credit for U.S. agricultural sales. Both measures cleared the Senate last year as part of the appropriations process but died in conference with the House.

¡°We obviously have the votes to do it in the Senate,¡± James Williams, president of Engage Cuba, said in a meeting with POLITICO editors and reporters. ¡°We¡¯ve gained votes since last year when we did this. The question will be does it survive at the end of the day?¡± That¡¯s harder to predict because of the strong opposition of Cuban-American lawmakers Ileana Ros-Lehtinen and Mario Diaz-Balart to any opening to the communist-run island, he said.

A successful House floor vote on either measure would make it difficult for leaders to kill the legislation in conference. But that has to be weighed against the possibility of failure and delaying the bigger prize of lifting the embargo. ¡°We¡¯re working diligently to get our whip count [in the House] to see if that¡¯s what we want to do,¡± Williams said. ¡°We haven¡¯t decided yet. We have a couple of months before we get there. But right now, we feel pretty good.¡±

Williams estimated 50 to 60 senators would vote for lifting the travel ban and allowing credit for agricultural sales. ¡°In the House, we feel like we have the majority, but you never know until it¡¯s on the floor,¡± he said.

CLINTON SIDES AGAINST TPP ON ISDS: Hillary Clinton hinted this week that she might want to take a different approach to the investor-state dispute settlement in the proposed U.S.-EU trade agreement than the one taken in the Trans-Pacific Partnership.

The former secretary of state was asked about her views on the TTIP in a questionnaire from the Pennsylvania Fair Trade Coalition. Clinton called the ISDS provisions in TPP ¡°flawed,¡± adding: ¡°I think we need to have a new paradigm for trade agreements that doesn't give special rights to corporations that workers and [non-governmental organizations] don't get.¡±

The Obama administration has touted reforms to ISDS in TPP, which among other things raised the burden of proof on the corporation bringing the case. But the European Union has proposed its own set of changes, which include an appellate mechanism and a pre-approved list of judges that may hear ISDS cases.

It¡¯s unclear from her answer whether Clinton simply wants to give unions and NGOs a similar mechanism or whether she¡¯d favor further reforms to ISDS itself. But more generally, she said she is ¡°not interested in tinkering around the margins of our trade policy. I think we need a fundamental rethink of how we approach trade deals going forward.¡± SANDERS NOT A TPP FAN ... WHO KNEW? Clinton¡¯s opponent, Bernie Sanders, in his answers to the questionnaire repeated his opposition to mostly everything about the current trade model, including ISDS, extended data protection for pharmaceuticals, increased procurement access for U.S. trading partners, food safety language and more.

¡°In my view, we need to fundamentally rewrite our trade agreements to protect the environment and raise living standards in the U.S. and throughout the world,¡± the Vermont senator said, adding that he would make sure enforceable environmental standards were in the core text of any deal. He also called for ¡°a currency manipulation fee on China and other countries¡± but didn¡¯t specify whether he means anti-subsidy duties or a more straightforward charge of some kind. Click here for all of Sanders¡¯ answers.

U.K. AG SECRETARY TO NUDGE VILSACK ON BEEF, LAMB: Elizabeth Truss, the United Kingdom¡¯s secretary of state for food, rural affairs and agriculture, said she will press Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, when she meets with him today in Washington, to have USDA inspectors visit British beef and lamb producers in order to re-open the U.S. to imports. British beef and lamb have been banned from the U.S. since 1989 over concerns about mad cow disease. MA caught up with Truss at a reception Tuesday night to celebrate British food and honor the recipients of U.K.-based scholarships. She said she also plans to meet with Senate Agriculture Committee Chairman Pat Roberts while in town.

Truss also spoke briefly about Brexit-related concerns, noting that the rest of Europe is a major destination for U.K. agricultural exports. She quoted an estimate delivered by George Osborne, U.K.¡¯s finance minister, on Monday that leaving the EU would cost the average British household as much as £4,300 ($6,100 USD) a year by 2030 in lost wages, due to the British economy shrinking 6 percent. The U.K. is scheduled to vote June 23 on the matter. Read more about Osborne¡¯s estimates here.

FRANCE ENGAGED ¡®IN A GLOBAL FIGHT¡¯ ON FOOD PROTECTION: French Trade Minister Matthias Fekl is known for criticizing the lack of American will in the TTIP negotiations to create more transparency and reform investor-state arbitration. But now he has found a new hobby horse: protecting French farmers and food producers from bad conditions in the EU-U.S. trade pact and other future deals, our POLITICO Europe counterpart reports.

¡°France is engaged in a global diplomatic fight for the protection of geographical indications,¡± Fekl said at an TTIP-event organized by the French business lobby Movement of the Enterprises of France, complaining the protection of European agricultural and food products names ¡°is currently not seriously integrated into the [TTIP] negotiations.¡±

Les Miserables: A dozen anti-TTIP activists once again sneaked into the TTIP event and started singing ¡°The Song of Angry Men¡± from the musical ¡°Les Miserables¡± during Malmström¡¯s speech, interrupting the panel. The commissioner asked the protesters to listen to her arguments, but as the singing continued, stewards walked the protesters out.

INVASION OF THE PORK PRODUCERS: Close to 150 members of the National Pork Producers Council are in town for their annual fly-in. They will spend today on Capitol Hill lobbying on two main issues: USDA funding for addressing antibiotic resistance and new concerns with TPP implementation from Australia, Japan, and Vietnam as it relates to U.S. pork exports, a spokesman for the group said.

INTERNATIONAL OVERNIGHT