President Trump announced comprehensive tariffs for foreign steel and aluminum on Monday and re -established a policy from his first term, which satisfied the domestic metal manufacturers, but lit other American industries and trade wars with allies on several fronts.
The President signed two official proclamations that would impose a tariff of 25 percent on steel and aluminum from all countries worldwide. In a call with reporters, an official of the White House said that there would be no exclusions and that the president gave the customs officials to dramatically increase their supervision of such imports.
The measures are welcomed by domestic steel manufacturers who argue that they have difficulty competing against cheap foreign metals. As in Mr. Trump's first term of office, US metal manufacturers used the administration for protection, and Trump officers agree that a strong domestic metal sector is of essential importance for the national security of US security.
But the tariffs will invite a lot of controversy. You will probably classify America's allies such as Canada and Mexico who deliver most of the US metal imports. And you could stimulate stimulating retaliation measures for US exports and setbacks from American industries to produce metals to produce cars, food packaging and other products. These sectors will be significantly higher prices after the tariffs come into force.
That was in Mr. Trump's first term when he hit 25 percent tariffs on foreign steel and aluminum. While he and President Joseph R. Biden Jr. In the end, she rolled back these tariffs from most large metal suppliers and were often replaced by other commercial barriers, such as odds. Studies have shown that the measures helped us metal manufacturers but violated the broader economy because they increased prices for many other industries.
Mr. Trump seemed to ignore this story on Sunday. When he flew into the Super Bowl on board the Air Force One, he said that he had a tariff of 25 percent for all imports. He also said that he would progress with so-called mutual tariffs, which would increase certain US tariff prices for the foreign countries later this week.
“Simply if you invoice us, we calculate you,” he said.
The promise of steel tariffs followed other intensive trade threats. In his three office weeks, the president threatened more tariffs worldwide than in his entire first term when he ultimately imposed tariffs on foreign solar modules, washing machines, metals and more than 300 billion US dollars from China.
Since taking office, Mr. Trump has won all products from China an additional 10 percent tariff and came within a few hours after the start of Canadian tariffs in Canada and Mexico, which would have brought us the collective bargaining prices to a level that had not been observed since the 1940s. Together these movements would have affected more than 1.3 trillion dollars.
In the past few days, Mr. Trump has also said that he was planning to beat tariffs for Europe, Taiwan and other governments as well as a large number of critical industries such as copper, steel, aluminum, pharmaceuticals and semiconductors such as copper, steel, aluminum.
American steel manufacturers welcomed the tariffs. In a statement on Sunday, Kevin Dempsey, the President of the American Iron and Steel Institute, said the group of Mr. Trump's “persistent commitment to a strong American steel industry, which is of essential importance for the national security and economic prosperity of America”.
The president previously targeted foreign metals. During his first term, the President made tariffs for foreign steel and aluminum worldwide and angry allies such as Mexico, Canada and the European Union.
Mr. Trump achieved agreements with Australia, South Korea and Brazil and rolled back some of these obstacles for Canada and Mexico when they signed a revised trade agreement with the United States. The bidges later achieved agreements with the European Union, Great Britain and Japan to push some of their trade restrictions back.
The new measures mainly affect the US allies. The largest steel supplier in the United States in 2024 was Canada, followed by Brazil, Mexico, South Korea and Vietnam, according to the American Iron and Steel Institute. Canada is also an important provider of aluminum in the United States, followed by the United Arab Emirates, Russia and China.
The United States imports very little steel or aluminum directly from China, since the Chinese exports have long been blocked by a variety of anti-dumping and subsidies. However, some argue that China's excess steel production floods other markets and lowers the global prices and keeps us metal manufacturers in other markets.
In the middle of his financial battles, Us Steel, the legendary company in Pennsylvania, had agreed to be taken over by Nippon Steel from Japan. This merger was blocked by President Biden, who said he wanted us to remain an American company.
Nazak Nikakhtar, a partner of the law firm Wiley in and an official from the First Trump government, said that the president was again “his promise of national security. “
She said that the new tariffs to existing customs duties for steel and aluminum would be added, and it was still to be seen whether there would be exceptions, for example for Canada and Mexico.
Some economists argue that tariffs for raw materials such as steel have a negative impact on the economy because they increase prices for other manufacturers.
A study by the impartial international trade commission, for example, showed that steel and aluminum tariffs increased the price of imports and encouraged consumers of steel and aluminum to buy more American metals than foreign. The increase in demand further increased metal prices and enabled American metal manufacturers to expand their production, which led to additional production of steel and aluminum in the USA of $ 2.25 billion in 2021.
However, politics had an important disadvantage, as the study shows. The higher prices for steel and aluminum led to higher costs for downstream industries that buy these metals to do other things. The higher costs were particularly painful for companies that manufactured industrial machines, auto parts and hand tools.
Overall, industries that consume steel and aluminum, due to the tariffs by 3.48 billion US dollars – more than from what the steel and aluminum manufacturers had won.
Some in the US metal industries say that the taxes have not gone far enough. They argue that metal imports from other countries such as Mexico began to rise shortly after the framework of the agreement on the tariffs signed in 2020 as part of the contract for the US Mexico Canada.
Zach Mottl, the chairman of the coalition for wealthy America, which supports the metal tariffs, said that these trends are proof that tariffs should be expanded and not reduced in order to protect the downstream industries in the United States.
“It is important to create a market for all entries in the supply chain and then also for the end product,” he said.
Other industries are concerned about being captured into the crossfire and moving with tariffs while other countries return. China imposed retaliation duties on the US exports of liquefied gas, coal, agricultural machines and other products on Monday, which Mr. Trump prompted Mr. Trump last week.
Mexico, Canada and the European Union have created all the lists of American products that they could strike with their own taxes in response to US measures.
In response to Mr. Trump's first metal tariffs, for example, the European Union of American whiskey imposed a 25 percent tariff. The American and European governments have negotiated a deal to temporarily expose these tariffs that will soon expire. If another agreement is not made, the European Union will double this tariff to 50 percent on April 1.
Chris Swonger, the managing director of the distilled spirits council of the United States, said in a statement that the tariff would have a “catastrophic result” for 3,000 small distilleries in the United States.
“We demand that the United States and the EU quickly find a solution,” said Swonger. “Our great American whiskey industry is at stake.”
Colby Smith has contributed to the reporting.