(The Guardian) Trump to announce 25% aluminum and steel tariffs as China’s levies against US come into effect
Donald Trump has said he will announce new 25% tariffs on all steel and aluminum imports into the US on Monday that would affect “everybody’, including its largest trading partners Canada and Mexico.
Trump’s pre-announcement came as China’s retaliatory tariffs, announced last week, came into effect. The measures target $14bn worth of products with a 15% tariff on coal and LNG, and 10% on crude oil, farm equipment and some vehicles. The move on steel and aluminum brought a swift reaction from Doug Ford, the premier of the Canadian province of Ontario, who accused the US president of “shifting goalposts and constant chaos” that would put the economy at risk.
Monday’s tariffs would come on top of existing metals duties.
The largest sources of US steel imports are Canada, Brazil and Mexico, followed by South Korea and Vietnam, according to government and American Iron and Steel Institute data.
The US president, speaking to reporters on Air Force One on Sunday, also said he would announce reciprocal tariffs – raising US tariff rates to match those of trading partners – on Tuesday or Wednesday, which would take effect “almost immediately”. “And very simply, it’s, if they charge us, we charge them,” Trump said of the reciprocal tariff plan.
Guardian business correspondent Graeme Wearden reports that Donald Trump’s tariff interventions are leading some to describe the markets experiencing a “febrile February” with volatility high on the agenda.
He quotes Richard Hunter, head of markets at interactive investor, who said “Tariffs remain central to the uncertainty, with President Trump’s latest announcement on Sunday likely to keep investors on edge this week. He has threatened reciprocal tariffs across the board to equal the rates being charged to the US, quite apart from a 25% levy on the import of steel and aluminium.”
As David Goldman and Chris Isidore note for CNN: 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. Canada and Mexico are the largest and third largest exporters of steel to the US, respectively.
It wasn’t entirely clear from Trump’s interview on Sunday when new tariffs would be expected to come into effect, and whether they were on top of his previously announced measures against Canada, Mexico and China.
Donald Trump has said he will announce new 25% tariffs on all steel and aluminum imports into the US on Monday that would affect “everybody’, including its largest trading partners Canada and Mexico.
Trump’s pre-announcement came as China’s retaliatory tariffs, announced last week, came into effect. The measures target $14bn worth of products with a 15% tariff on coal and LNG, and 10% on crude oil, farm equipment and some vehicles. The move on steel and aluminum brought a swift reaction from Doug Ford, the premier of the Canadian province of Ontario, who accused the US president of “shifting goalposts and constant chaos” that would put the economy at risk.
Monday’s tariffs would come on top of existing metals duties.
The largest sources of US steel imports are Canada, Brazil and Mexico, followed by South Korea and Vietnam, according to government and American Iron and Steel Institute data.
The US president, speaking to reporters on Air Force One on Sunday, also said he would announce reciprocal tariffs – raising US tariff rates to match those of trading partners – on Tuesday or Wednesday, which would take effect “almost immediately”. “And very simply, it’s, if they charge us, we charge them,” Trump said of the reciprocal tariff plan.
Guardian business correspondent Graeme Wearden reports that Donald Trump’s tariff interventions are leading some to describe the markets experiencing a “febrile February” with volatility high on the agenda.
He quotes Richard Hunter, head of markets at interactive investor, who said “Tariffs remain central to the uncertainty, with President Trump’s latest announcement on Sunday likely to keep investors on edge this week. He has threatened reciprocal tariffs across the board to equal the rates being charged to the US, quite apart from a 25% levy on the import of steel and aluminium.”
As David Goldman and Chris Isidore note for CNN: 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. Canada and Mexico are the largest and third largest exporters of steel to the US, respectively.
It wasn’t entirely clear from Trump’s interview on Sunday when new tariffs would be expected to come into effect, and whether they were on top of his previously announced measures against Canada, Mexico and China.
