Trump imposes 25% tariffs on steel and aluminum imports
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Donald Trump said he would impose a 25% tariff on all steel and aluminum imports on Monday and expand its trade conflict to the metal sector amid a series of protectionism in Washington.
The U.S. president made the announcement in a briefing with reporters when he flew from Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida to the Super Bowl in New Orleans Sunday night.
In addition to measures on steel and aluminum products, Trump said he will launch new reciprocal tariffs later this week for various countries to imports that are taxed on U.S. exports.
Trump launched his second term through an aggressive trade policy, and the promised tariffs on steel and aluminum came. Last week, he imposed a 25% tariff on imports from Canada's neighbors and Mexico within hours, only giving them a 30-day probation.
But Trump has imposed a 10% tariff on Chinese imports, triggering retaliation from Beijing, which took effect on Sunday.
New tariffs on steel and aluminum proposed by Trump could once again reverse global financial markets, as the U.S. president threatened additional tariffs from U.S. trading partners.
The dollar rose 0.3% on Monday against a basket of currencies including the euro, the yen and the pound. Aluminum, traded on the London Metal Exchange, rose 0.5% to $2,633 per ton.
Although tariffs on metal imports are often supported by certain key U.S. unions and some domestic steel and aluminum producers, they have the potential to increase input costs for U.S. manufacturers. In 2023, the United States imported $82.1 billion in steel and $27.4 billion in aluminum, while exporting $43.3 billion in steel and $14.3 billion in aluminum.
The move comes as Trump has promised to guarantee to prevent Nippon Steel from taking over U.S. steel after Joe Biden made the same decision.
But Trump said he would work to allow large investments, albeit not a majority stake, among producers in Pennsylvania's Japanese rivals, and insisted that tariffs would help. “Tariffs will make (US Steel) very successful. I think it has good management,” Trump said.
Shares of Japan Steel, which is in Tokyo, fell 1.6% in mid-Monday.
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If Trump follows his plan to impose metal tariffs and multiple additional taxes, they will restart fears that his economic policies may trigger new growth in the U.S. economy and beyond.
Trump did not say he intends to announce the reciprocal tariffs he promised to announce in the coming days.
“It's simple, if they sue us, we will sue them,” he said.
His comments could spark a rush among U.S. trading partners to avoid imminent tariffs in the coming days. Last week, after meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, Trump threatened to impose tariffs on Asian countries if the bilateral trade deficit with the United States was not eliminated.
Sam Learner's other reports on Arjun Neil Alim in New York and Hong Kong