Trump to announce 25% tariffs on steel and aluminium

US President Donald Trump announced on Monday that he would impose a 25 percent tariff on all steel and aluminum imports, adding that he could detail his plan to impose reciprocal tariffs the next day.

“There will be a 25 percent tariff on every steel coming into the United States, a 25 percent tariff on aluminum,” Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One on his way to New Orleans for the Super Bowl on Sunday.

Trump did not specify when these new taxes would take effect. But Trump said the new tariffs would apply to all countries, including Canada and Mexico, which were exempted from US steel and aluminum tariffs when they signed the US-Mexico-Canada Agreement during his previous administration.

Trump said of Canada, “Why are we protecting another country? If we don’t allow them to produce cars… they can’t survive as a country,” he claimed.

The United States is maintaining the 25 percent steel and 10 percent aluminum tariffs on many countries that the first Trump administration imposed in 2018 under Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962. Many trading partners have negotiated the lifting of these tariffs.

Doug Ford, Prime Minister of the Province of Ontario in Canada, said in a post on X on Sunday evening, “The next four years will be like this. Changing game rules and constant chaos put our economy at risk,” he said.

Trump also said on Sunday that he would impose reciprocal tariffs on trading partners in the coming days to match the taxes imposed by other countries. He said these tariffs would be announced on Tuesday or Wednesday and would take effect “almost immediately.”

Trump said, “If they are taxing us 130 percent and we are not buying anything from them, this will not stay like this. There will be reciprocity to every country,” he said.

Trump reiterated his plan on Friday, suggesting that the tariffs would replace a general tariff on all imports, a major reversal from his campaign proposal for a “basic” tariff of 10 to 20 percent on all imports.

The US applies the same tariffs for most countries, but individual US tariff rates vary depending on the product. Some tariff rates are as low as just 2.5 percent, such as on cars, while others, such as on clothing and footwear, are generally higher.