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Your Guide to What Trump’s Second Season Means Washington, Business and World
A day after President Donald Trump signed his executive order escalating the world trade war, 50% US tariffs on steel and aluminum came into effect Wednesday.
The new tariffs came into effect in the middle of the night Wednesday, doubleping the 25% tax on the sector introduced by the president in March.
UK steel and aluminum duties remain at 25%. This is a London sculpture after signing a trade deal with Washington last month.
Trump said Tuesday that tariffs are needed to prevent dumping by foreign producers “threatening to undermine national security.”
“The increase in tariffs will more effectively counteract foreign countries that continue to offload low-priced excess steel and aluminum in the US market, thereby undermining the competitiveness of the US steel and aluminum industry,” Trump wrote Tuesday.
The additional obligation will strengthen the US President’s bid to restructure international commerce, despite much of his trade agenda remaining within the legal scope. The court found last week that he lacked the powers cited when he imposed the most drastic “release date” tariffs on April 2.
The ruling, which has since been suspended by the Court of Appeals, did not affect sector-specific collections such as steel and aluminum, which Trump introduced using different powers.
Trump noted that after the July 9 deadline, if his Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick determines that “the UK is not complying with relevant aspects,” he could still hit London at a higher rate.
The president announced plans to double tariffs last week during a rally at the Pennsylvania steel factory, pledging to build a “fence” in the domestic metals industry that will enable foreign producers.
“That means no one can steal your industry,” he told a crowd of delighted steel workers on Friday.
“At 25%, they can get over that fence. At 50%, they can’t get over the fence.”
The policy elicited a rapid denunciation from Canada, the largest supplier of steel and aluminum, to the US, where the industry recently warned of “massive disruption” and “catastrophic” unemployment.
