Donald Trump said on Sunday that he will announce on Monday new 25% tariffs on all steel and aluminum imports into the US, which would come on top of existing metals duties in another major escalation of his trade policy overhaul.
The US president, speaking to reporters on Air Force One, also said he will announce reciprocal tariffs on Tuesday or Wednesday, to take effect almost immediately.
“And very simply, it’s, if they charge us, we charge them,” Trump said of the reciprocal tariff plan.
Trump during his first term imposed tariffs of 25% on steel and 10% on aluminum, but later granted several trading partners duty-free quotas, including Canada, Mexico and Brazil.
Joe Biden extended these quotas to Britain, Japan and the European Union, and US steel mill capacity utilization has dropped in recent years. White House spokesperson Karoline Leavitt said that the new tariffs would come on top of the existing duties on steel and aluminum.
Trump on Friday announced that he would impose reciprocal tariffs – raising US tariff rates to match those of trading partners – on many countries this week. He did not identify the countries, but the duties would be imposed “so that we’re treated evenly with other countries”.
Also during his flight to New Orleans to watch the Super Bowl, Trump said the US may carry less debt than thought and said it could be because of fraud related to debt payments.
The United States currently has $36.2tn public debt outstanding, according to the US treasury, which plays a central role in the global financial system.
Trump has tasked billionaire Elon Musk’s government efficiency team with rooting out fraud and wasteful spending across the federal government.
“We’re even looking at treasuries,” Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One on Sunday. “There could be a problem – you’ve been reading about that, with treasuries and that could be an interesting problem.”
Audits being carried out by Musk’s efficiency team have disrupted operations at several federal agencies.
Trump’s comments on Sunday about potential fraud related to US treasuries raises the question of what sort of action Musk’s team may take on treasuries.
According to government and American Iron and Steel Institute data, the largest sources of US steel imports are Canada, Brazil and Mexico, followed by South Korea and Vietnam.
By a large margin, Canada is the largest supplier of primary aluminum metal to the United States, accounting for 79% of total imports in the first 11 months of 2024. Mexico is a major supplier of aluminum scrap and aluminum alloy.
Trump has long complained about the EU’s 10% tariffs on auto imports being much higher than the US car rate of 2.5%. He frequently states that Europe “won’t take our cars” but ships millions west across the Atlantic every year.
The US, however, enjoys a 25% tariff on pickup trucks, a vital source of profits for Detroit automakers General Motors GM.N, Ford F.N and Stellantis’s US operations.
The US trade-weighted average tariff rate is about 2.2%, according to World Trade Organization data, compared with 12% for India, 6.7% for Brazil, 5.1% for Vietnam and 2.7% for European Union countries.
Article by:Source: Reuters
