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Donald Trump said he would impose 25 percent tariffs on all steel and aluminum imports on Monday and expand his trade conflicts to the metal sector in a new protectionism from Washington.
The US President made the announcement during a briefing with reporters when he visited his Mar-Lago property in Florida from the Super Bowl in New Orleans on Sunday evening.
In addition to the measures for steel and aluminum products, Trump said that he would later present new opposing tariffs that are based on imports from a variety of countries that impose Taxes On US exports.
The promised tariffs come on steel and aluminum, since Trump started his second term with an aggressive trade policy. Last week he came within hours after he had set 25 percent tariffs for imports from US neighbor Kanada and MexicoJust to offer them a 30-day postponement.
But Trump pushed 10 percent tariffs for Chinese imports that triggered retaliation from Beijing, which came into force on Sunday.
The new taxes for steel and aluminum, which were proposed by Trump, could again rattle the global financial markets that have played in the past few weeks when the US President of America’s trading partner threatened with additional tariffs.
The dollar rose by 0.3 percent on Monday compared to a currency basket, including euros, yen and pound. Aluminum, which were traded on the London metal exchange, rose by 0.5 percent to $ 2,633 per ton.
While tariffs for metal imports are generally used by some important unions in the USA and by some domestic steel and aluminum manufacturers, they risk increasing input costs for a wide range of US manufacturers. In 2023, the United States imported $ 82.1 billion steel and iron and $ 27.4 billion aluminum, while exporting $ 43.3 billion steel and iron and $ 14.3 billion aluminum.
The step comes when Trump committed himself to blocking himself Nippon steelThe takeover of US steel according to Joe Biden’s decision to do the same.
But Trump said that he would work to allow a major investment, although not a majority stake in Pennsylvania, to allow his Japanese rival based in Pennsylvania, and insisted that tariffs would help. “Make tariffs very successful (US steel). And I think it has good management, ”said Trump.
Nippon Steel’s shares were 1.6 percent lower in Tokyo until Monday in the morning, but sometimes recovered by 0.4 percent a day in the afternoon.
If Trump with his plan, metal tariffs and a wide range of additional taxes, they will revive the concerns that his economic policy could trigger a new increase in inflation within the US economy and beyond.
Trump did not say exactly how he wanted to use the mutual tariffs, which he could announce in the coming days.
“Simply if you invoice us, we calculate you,” he said.
His comments could trigger America’s trading partners to avoid the impending tariffs in the coming days. Last week after meeting the Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru IshibaTrump threatened to impose the Asian nation in tariffs if the bilateral trade deficit was not eliminated with the United States.
The Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said that his country’s companies had “considerable investments in the US steel industry in the USA and Australia”.
“We will continue to respond to the US government’s national interest in the US government,” said Albanese.
Additional reporting from Sam learning in New York, Arjun Neil Alim in Hong Kong and Nic Fildes in Melbourne
