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President Donald Trump, speaking to reporters on Air Force One Sunday,
said he planned on announcing a 25% tariff on all steel and aluminum
imports into the United States Monday.

“We’ll also be announcing steel tariffs on Monday,” he said, adding, “any
steel coming into the United States is going to have a 25% tariff.”

“Aluminum, too,” he added.

Trump also said he planned to hold a separate news conference Tuesday or Wednesday to announce massive new reciprocal tariffs, which could match
other countries’ tariffs on US goods dollar-for-dollar.

“Very simply, it’s if they charge us, we charge them,” Trump said.

He did not provide many details about how expansive the new tariffs would
be or when they may go into effect. It’s not clear if the new steel and aluminum tariffs will be on top of the tariffs already in place on exports
from countries like China.

Trump in 2018, during his previous administration, also announced 25%
tariffs on steel and 10% tariffs on aluminum, although the following year
he lifted them on Mexico and Canada.

Last week, Trump imposed a 10% tariff on all Chinese goods imported to the
US on top of all existing tariffs already in place on China. After those tariffs went into effect Tuesday, China quickly retaliated by placing
tariffs on some chips and metals, began investigating Google and placed
the maker of the Calvin Klein and Tommy Hilfiger brands on its unreliable entities list.

But Trump already began dialing back those tariffs, pausing taxes on any
goods worth $800 or less imported into the US until the Commerce
Department can develop a system for imposing those hard-to-track items.
Trump also paused 25% across-the-board tariffs on Mexican and Canadian
imports until at least March 1.

While the US is not the manufacturing-focused economy it once was, it
still consumes tens of millions of tons of steel and aluminum a year,
feeding industries such as automaking, aerospace, oil production,
construction and infrastructure, such as roads and bridges. Tariffs would increase the cost of production in those industries both because of the increased cost of the imported steel, and because domestic steel and
aluminum makers could raise the price of their products due to the reduced competition from low-priced imports.

The steel industry praised the prospect of tariffs to protect America’s interests.

“AISI welcomes President Trump’s continued commitment to a strong American steel industry, which is essential to America’s national security and
economic prosperity,” said Kevin Dempsey, CEO of the American Iron and
Steel Institute, which represents steelmaking companies. “We look forward
to working closely with the President and his administration to implement
a robust and reinvigorated trade agenda to address the many foreign market-distorting policies and practices that create an unlevel playing
field for American steelmakers.”

Canada and Mexico are the largest and third largest exporters of steel to
the US, respectively. Canada now accounts for nearly a quarter of steel imported by American businesses by weight, while Mexico accounts for about
12%, according to government data provided by the American Iron and Steel Institute, an industry trade group.

The European Union, which counted the US as the biggest market for its
steel and iron exports in 2023, said Monday that it saw “no justification
for the imposition of tariffs on its exports.”

“We will react to protect the interests of European businesses, workers
and consumers from unjustified measures,” Olof Gill, trade spokesperson at
the European Commission, said in a statement.

Overall, steel imported by American businesses plunged 27% between 2017,
the year before there were tariffs, and 2019, the first full year of the tariffs, although some of that decline was due to decreased steel
consumption. Domestic steel production rose in the same period but only
equaled about two-thirds of the drops in imports. Despite the competitive
lift that the domestic steel industry has received from tariffs, domestic production was down about 2% last year compared to 2023, and down nearly
10% from where it stood a decade ago.

https://www.cnn.com/2025/02/09/business/trump-tariffs-steel- aluminum/index.html

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