President Donald Trump said Sunday that he will announce on Monday new 25 percent tariffs on all steel and aluminum imports into the United States, the Epoch Times reported.
BREAKING: President Donald Trump said he will announce 25% tariffs on all imports of steel and aluminum on Monday. https://t.co/shkCxFiYBI pic.twitter.com/81AdNnwMnf
— Bloomberg (@business) February 9, 2025
“Any steel coming into the United States is going to have a 25 percent tariff,” he told reporters Sunday on Air Force One as he flew from Florida to New Orleans to attend the Super Bowl. When asked about aluminum, he told reporters, “aluminum, too” will be subject to the trade penalties.
Trump on Sunday offered no details about the aluminum or steel tariffs. White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt said that the new tariffs would come on top of the existing duties on steel and aluminum.
Trump also told reporters that he would soon announce “reciprocal tariffs” on Tuesday or Wednesday, meaning that the United States could impose duties on products from countries that have placed tariffs on U.S. goods.
“If they are charging us 130 percent and we’re charging them nothing, it’s not going to stay that way,” he told reporters.
Steel and aluminum were among Trump’s earliest tariffs during his first term, implementing a 25% duty on steel and a 10% duty on aluminum in 2018 on grounds of national security.The steel tariffs also come amid a stalled deal by Japan’s Nippon Steel Corp. to buy US Steel Corp. for $14.1 billion. The transaction was blocked by former President Joe Biden and is also opposed by Trump.
Last week, Trump elaborated on the reciprocal tariffs during comments at the White House alongside Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba.
“Where a country ... charges us so much, and we do the same,” he said. “I think that’s the only fair way to do it. That way, nobody’s hurt.”
Trump also said that Nippon Steel is now considering investing in US Steel instead of purchasing the company outright. Trump told reporters on Sunday that Nippon Steel cannot have a majority stake in the US firm.
During the campaign, Trump often said that he would place tariffs on a variety of goods and countries, sometimes even suggesting that the United States could abolish the income tax in favor of tariffs.
Earlier this month, he warned that he would place a 25 percent tariff on goods from Canada and Mexico, along with a 10 percent tariff on Chinese goods, if those countries do not curb illegal immigration or fentanyl production and trafficking into the country. Ultimately, he pushed back the Canada and Mexico tariffs by a month after leaders of the two countries agreed to strengthen their border security.
Both Mexico and Canada said they would send thousands of troops to their respective borders with the United States to stanch the flow of illegal immigrants and fentanyl trafficking. The 10 percent tariff on China took effect on Feb. 4.
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