WASHINGTON—President Trump on Monday announced 25% tariffs on imports of steel and aluminum to the U.S., reinstating global duties without exceptions for allies such as Canada, Mexico, Japan and South Korea that were relaxed by the Biden administration.
“It’s a big deal. This is the beginning of making America rich again,” Trump said in the Oval Office on Monday, as he signed dual executive orders for steel and aluminum tariffs. “No exceptions, no nothing,” Trump added.
A White House official said the tariffs would take effect March 4.
The steel and aluminum tariffs are just the latest in a litany of tariff threats and impositions from Trump in the first weeks of his second term. Trump has so far imposed 10% tariffs on all Chinese goods—in addition to previous tariffs—and threatened 25% tariffs on Canada, Mexico and Colombia, before reaching deals with their governments.
The steel tariffs, however, will likely not be easily negotiated away by foreign governments, The Wall Street Journal previously reported. Unlike the earlier threats on Mexico, Canada, and Colombia, which were aimed at solving non-trade policy disputes, Trump and his economic team have said that the global steel trade is unfair for the U.S. because of subsidies that other governments—particularly China—provide for their own steel companies.
The subsidies and other trade barriers allow many foreign countries to sell steel to American customers cheaper than U.S.-made metals, and the tariffs seek to make those foreign metals more expensive to make American products competitive with them.
Trump has also said he would impose so-called “reciprocal” tariffs this week on virtually every trading partner, aiming to match the level of tariffs imposed by foreign nations. Administration officials didn’t say whether those tariffs would be on top of the steel and aluminum tariffs announced Monday.
“If they charge us, we charge them,” Trump said in the Oval Office on Monday. “If they’re at 25[%] we’re at 25[%]. If they’re at 10, we’re at 10.”
The latest tariff move will please American steel producers such as U.S. Steel, Cleveland Cliffs and Nucor, all which saw their stock prices move higher since Trump announced last week that steel and aluminum tariffs were coming. But the steel and aluminum tariffs will be opposed by many domestic manufacturers who use the metals in their factories and say that duties will increase input costs, ultimately leading to higher prices for their goods.
The National Foreign Trade Council, an industry group for large U.S. companies, said Trump’s move would harm competitiveness and increase costs paid by American manufacturers.
“Adding new tariffs on basic industries and eliminating mitigating options…is especially disruptive at a time when the Administration is looking to boost American manufacturing,” said Tiffany Smith, the group’s vice president for global trade policy.
Trump in his first term set up a process for companies to apply for exclusions from the tariffs, including on intermediate goods used in manufacturing. This time, Trump ruled out carve-outs.
“It’s 25%, without exceptions or exemptions,” he told reporters. “And that’s all countries, no matter where it comes from.”
The move will hit steel shipments from many of the U.S.’s closest allies. In 2024, Canada was the leading supplier of imported steel to the U.S., followed by Brazil, Mexico, South Korea and Vietnam. Those nations and others could respond with tariffs of their own to counter Trump’s action.
Supporters of the tariffs argue that the broad tariff action is necessary to counteract so-called transshipments of steel and aluminum—countries importing raw metals from nations such as China, then processing it and shipping it to the U.S. as an export of their own, thereby avoiding tariffs on China.
The Biden administration had sought to counter some of the transshipment of Chinese steel through Mexico, increasing tariffs on metals that came through Mexico but were produced elsewhere. The steel industry and union, however, had regarded that policy as only a partial fix, and were pushing the government for broader action.
The steel and aluminum tariffs won’t be the last sectors targeted by Trump. In the Oval Office, he said the administration would also be looking at duties on semiconductors, cars, pharmaceuticals and other products in the days and weeks to come.