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Donald Trump said he will double tariffs on steel and aluminum imports from 25% to 50% in a new escalation of his world trade war.
The US President announced an increased taxation as he touted a $15 billion partnership between Nippon Steel and US steel at a Pennsylvania rally and pledged to build a tariff “fence” on domestic metal production.
“We bring that to 25% to 50%. This is a tariff on steel on the US, making the steel industry even safer,” he told the West Mifflin crowd.
“No one is going to get around that. At 25%, they can get through that fence. At 50%, they can’t get through the fence.”
The new taxation will come into effect on June 4th, the president wrote in the Truth Social Post following the rally.
Trump has sought to revitalize the American industrial centre by actively targeting what he sees as being dumped by foreign importers. In March, he slapped a 25% tax on steel and aluminum imports in one of the first broadsides of the World Trade War.
Pennsylvania was one of the key swing states that Trump won last year’s presidential election.
“Whatever legal barriers or economic fallout, Trump is clearly deciding to continue using tariffs as a policy tool to protect American chimney manufacturing from the destruction of foreign competition,” said Eswar Prasad, an economist at Cornell University.
The Canadian steel industry, the largest US source, has denounced Trump’s move.
“It costs a lot to both countries to unwind the efficient, competitive, reliable cross-border supply chains, as we do in steel and aluminum,” said Candice Line, president of the Canadian Chamber of Commerce.
The announcement on Friday again raised trade tensions two days after the US Trade Court ruled many of the president’s tariffs were illegal, but this did not include taxation in sectors like steel and aluminum. The White House vowed to fight the decision.
Trump’s unstable approach to tariffs — repeatedly announcing new taxes before they can be brought back later — has caused disruptions between businesses and has caused major fluctuations in the market in recent months.
The Trump administration signed a contract with China two weeks ago, lowering tariffs between the two countries, reaching 145%. However, tensions appeared to be rising again on Friday.
The escalation of steel tariffs comes after Trump approved last week after Trump reversed his campaign trail opposition to deals between Japanese companies and American producers, and approved a “partnership” with Japanese steel.
On Friday, the president welcomed what he called a “great partner” and a “smash hit deal” that he said “ensures that this storied American company remains an American company.”
Trump said Nippon Steel has made a “monologic commitment” to invest more than $2 billion to increase steel production in Pennsylvania, as well as $14 billion to invest in the company to modernize Mills and $7 billion to build facilities in Indiana, Minnesota, Alabama and Arkansas.
Additional Reports by Ilya Gridneff in Toronto
