Tariffs on metals imports have been in place since 2018 and were extended under President Biden.
President Trump pledged to double U.S. tariffs on steel to 50% at an event at U.S. Steel’s Mon Valley-Irvin Plant in West Mifflin, Penn., this past Friday. Later, the president announced that aluminum tariffs would also double to 50% — both increases going into effect this Wednesday.
“Nobody’s going to be able to steal your industry,” Trump said. “At 25%, they can sort of get over that fence. At 50%, they can no longer get over that fence.”
The president first invoked Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962 to impose tariffs on steel imports during his first administration in March of 2018. The statute enables the president to use tariffs to adjust imports that enter the United States at such a quantity as to threaten United States national security. When initially imposed by Trump, Section 232 steel tariffs were set at 25% and aluminum tariffs were set to 10%.
Following the tariffs, America’s steel mills reached 80% utilization in 2021, a strong indicator of the sector’s health. But, the measure fell amid pressure from imports that were granted exemptions from the steel tariffs.
In July 2024, President Joe Biden announced that the U.S. would impose a 25% tariff on steel and a 10% tariff on aluminum not melted or poured in Mexico, but shipped through the nation into the United States, in response to China’s escalating tariff circumvention.
On Feb. 11, President Trump signed a proclamation removing all exemptions from the steel and aluminum tariffs, saying that these exemptions had undermined their efficacy and created loopholes that China exploited. Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Japan, Mexico, South Korea, the European Union, Ukraine, and the United Kingdom had all previously received steel and aluminum tariff exemptions.
“When I came into office eight years ago, I proclaimed a simple but crucially important principle — if you don’t have steel, you don’t have a country,” Trump said on Friday. “You can’t make a military. What are we going to do? Say, ‘Let’s go to China to get our steel for the Army tanks and for the boats and ships. A strong steel industry is not just a matter of dignity or prosperity and pride. It’s above all a matter of national security.”
American Iron and Steel Institute President and CEO Kevin Dempsey welcomed the announcement:
“Led by China, global steel overcapacity and production continues to grow, even as overall global steel demand is being impacted by the sharp downturn in the Chinese construction sector. As a result, Chinese steel exports to the world have more than doubled since 2020, surging to 118 million MT in 2024 — more than total North American steel production. Given these challenging international conditions that show no signs of improvement, this tariff action will help prevent new surges in imports that would injure American steel producers and their workers. AISI applauds the president’s bold action today to increase the tariffs on foreign steel and keep the American steel industry strong.”
We look forward to seeing the details of the Trump administration’s steel and aluminum tariff increase come Wednesday.