—
President Donald Trump imposed a sweeping 25% tariff on all steel and aluminum imported into the United States on Wednesday, a move that threatens to drive up prices on a broad range of consumer and industrial goods for Americans.
It’s the latest salvo in Trump’s multifaceted tariff war aimed at correcting perceived trade imbalances and reigniting domestic manufacturing.
Hours before enacting the latest tariffs, Trump reversed a threat to double the rate on steel and aluminum from Canada, the US’s top source of imports for the metals. Instead, steel and aluminum from there will be subject to the 25% levy.
“It may go up higher,” Trump said Tuesday of the 25% tariff on all countries’ steel and aluminum sent to the US at an event hosted by the Business Roundtable. “The higher it goes, the more likely it is they’re going to build,” he said, referring to more companies moving their production to the US.
Trump backed off his threat to double the steel and aluminum tariff rates for Canada after Ontario Premier Doug Ford agreed to pause surcharges on electricity for US customers.
Ford and US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick announced they’d meet on Thursday, along with Canadian Finance Minister Dominic LeBlanc, to renegotiate the free trade treaty known as the USMCA.
The tariff on steel and aluminum marks the first time in Trump’s second term that a tariff has been applied to all countries.
Trump 2.0’s first worldwide tariff escalation
Before Wednesday, Trump had only enacted tariffs that applied to China, Mexico and Canada this term. In the case of Mexico and Canada, businesses can avoid paying tariffs through April 2 if they comply with the USMCA.
Shortly before they went into effect, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese criticized the tariffs as “entirely unjustified” and “against the spirit of our two nations’ enduring friendship,” but said Canberra will impose no reciprocal levies.
“Tariffs and escalating trade tensions are a form of economic self-harm and a recipe for slower growth and higher inflation,” he said in a statement. “This is why Australia will not be imposing reciprocal tariffs on the United States.”
Steel tariffs of 25% launched in Trump’s first administration and continued by former President Joe Biden resulted in American importers shifting to other sources.
However, the Biden administration had allowed for exceptions on the duties from US allies, including Canada, Mexico, Japan and South Korea. Trump’s latest action reverses that with no exceptions on any countries’ steel imports to the US. The same applies for aluminum, with rates climbing to 25% from 10%.
China is the only country whose aluminum and steel will be tariffed at rates higher than 25%. That’s because a 20% across-the-board tariff on Chinese imports was already in effect prior to Wednesday, and the 25% steel and aluminum tariff will be tacked on top of that, bringing the total tariff rate to 45% on steel and aluminum from there.
America imports very little steel directly from China, by far the world’s largest producer of steel.
Yet Chinese steel does make its way into the United States secondhand. Some is purchased by foreign countries and reshipped to the US. And some of it is mislabeled and resold through various channels.
This is a developing story and will be updated. CNN’s Chris Isidore, Angus Watson and James Legge contributed reporting.
