President Trump said on Sunday that he would impose a rate of 25 percent on all foreign steel and aluminum imports in the United States from Monday and soon mutual rates for the US trading partners.
Speaking from Air Force One on the way to the Super Bowl, the president said that his metal rates would apply to 'everyone', including Canada and Mexico, the allies of America and the largest trading partners.
“Every steel that enters the United States will have a rate of 25 percent,” said Mr. Trump. “Aluminum too.”
Mr. Trump's decision to burden foreign metals and to impose mutual rates comes after several other trade threats he has made since winning the White House.
Since his appointment, Mr. Trump has imposed an extra rate of 10 percent on all products from China, and has arrived at Canada and Mexico that would have brought us rates for a level that has not been reached within a few hours of imposing radical rates since the 1940s More is seen.
Mr Trump has also said in recent days that he was planning to impose rates on Europe, Taiwan and other governments, as well as on various critical industries such as copper, steel, aluminum, pharmaceutical products and semiconductors.
The decision to impose rates on metals would affect some of the largest trading partners and allies of America.
The largest supplier of steel to 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 supplier of aluminum to the United States, followed remotely by the United Arab Emirates, Russia and China.
Mr. Trump's decision to impose rates on metal is not new. In his first term, the President has raised rates on foreign steel and aluminum worldwide, which made allies such as Mexico, Canada and the European Union angry. He eventually rolled some of those barriers back in Canada and Mexico when they signed a revised trade agreement with the United States.
The Biden government later reached agreements with the European Union, the United Kingdom and Japan to roll back some of their trade restrictions. A handful of other countries also negotiate quotas or other regulations, but for most countries the steel and aluminum rates remain in force, said Chad Bown, a senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics. It is not clear whether the new rates would be added to the old ones.
Both new tariff proposals from Mr. Trump would broaden his trade fights to many different countries, creating trade splashes that can encourage other countries to take revenge at their own rates for American goods.
Mr. Trump has already established diplomatic and economic relationships last week with almost daily tariff threats.
The mutual rates that the president has proposed would increase the charges that collect the US charges for certain imports to agree with what other countries charge on American products when those goods encounter their limits. They can be used by the president as a lever to find further concessions in negotiations. But they would also violate American obligations to the World Trade Organization.
The president said that his mutual rates would be announced on Tuesday or Wednesday at a press conference, and the rates would “almost immediately” come into force in every country.
“Very simple, if they charge us, we charge them,” he said.
