The Trump administration has indicated that they plan to take their time in enacting any decision on whether or not to block steel imports, citing regulations and the need to conduct extensive studies for the delay. “You can’t just walk in and say I’m going to do this,” President Trump was quoted as saying. “You have to do statutory studies… It doesn’t go that quickly.”

Earlier this year President Trump and commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross had stated that they would propose a plan by the end of June to reduce steel imports in the name of “national security”. This announcement was met with objections from trading partners, as well as domestic steel users.

In an interview with the Wall Street Journal the President re-affirmed that his administration would still be addressing “steel dumping” and that the issue was still on the table. While he shied away from promising immediate action, Trump did say that the steel issue was a “very unfair situation”, and promised action “fairly soon”.

It appears that the steel trade issue may have taken a back seat to other headline issues. President Trump stated that “we’re waiting till we get everything finished up between health care and taxes and maybe even infrastructure.”

In the Wall Street Journal interview the President also touched on the North American Free Trade Agreement, noting that he hopes to renegotiate the pact that has been in place for over two decades, instead of pulling the United States out entirely as he had previously indicated. “We’re in the middle of a renegotiation right now, so we’ll see,” Mr. Trump said. “Maybe we’ll have to terminate it.” When asked if NAFTA could be saved the President said “It may be salvageable…I have an obligation to give it a shot.”

The process of renegotiating the agreement is set to begin in mid August, with aides hoping to have the talks completed by the year’s end.