The president also said he would announce reciprocal tariffs later in the week on countries that tax US imports. Those tariffs will not go into effect the same day as the announcement, which could be Tuesday or Wednesday but soon after, Trump said.
The moves are Trump’s latest in a series of threatened tariffs on countries and specific sectors.New steel tariffs could ripple through US energy businesses, from wind developers to oil drillers that are reliant on specialty grades not made in the US.
Some oil companies won exclusions from tariffs on the metal during Trump’s first term.
Many steel and aluminium buyers and sellers had expected they would have at least until March to prepare for any tariff implementation. Trump delayed to March the tariffs planned for Feb. 1 when Mexico and Canada offered modest proposals to increase security at the borders.
It was not immediately clear if the tariffs would still apply to Mexico and Canada. The two nations are significant suppliers of metals to the U.S.
The scale of Trump’s overall tariff ambitions remain unclear. He has also said he would impose tariffs on other goods, including pharmaceuticals, oil and semiconductors and said he’s considering import duties on the European Union.
Trump last week imposed a 10% tariff on Chinese goods. Beijing also announced retaliatory measures slated to take effect later this month that were more calibrated in scope, targeting only imported goods from the US valued at $14 billion in 2024. That marked a more cautious approach from China than in Trump’s first term, when the world’s two largest economies traded tit-for-tat trade levies for years.
Markets will be watching to see if the two countries can strike a deal before the Chinese levies on the US take effect on Feb. 10. White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters last week that a call between Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping is being scheduled to take place “very soon.”Trump has alternated between tough talk against Beijing and signals that he wants to work with Xi as he seeks more balanced trade. The US president has ordered an agreement he signed in 2020, known as the Phase One deal, to be reevaluated, suggesting tariff talks with China could drag on. But he is also seeking Xi’s help in stopping Russia’s war in Ukraine, and pushing for China to split ownership of video app TikTok with a US company.
Trump had vowed to hit China, Canada and Mexico with tariffs, accusing the nations of failing to do enough to help stem the tide of illegal drugs and undocumented migrants across US borders.
While Trump could reverse course and move again to impose trade levies, the decision nevertheless reinforced the perception that the new president is unwilling to follow through on his tariff threats and instead prefers using them as a negotiating tool.
Trump has embraced tariffs as a centerpiece of his bid to remake the US economy, shrink trade deficits and find new sources of revenue to help deliver on his tax agenda. The moves though threaten to wreak economic havoc, with economists saying the levies will raise costs for US manufacturers who import goods, raise prices for consumers already weary from inflation, reduce trade flows and fail to bring in the revenue Trump has predicted.
The Trump administration and allies have touted the measures Mexico and Canada have promised on the border as a win for the president’s approach.
“We’ve seen a lot of pearl clutching when this was announced, but we’ve also seen immediate results from Mexico and Canada,” Peter Navarro, one of Trump’s trade advisers, said at an interview event last week hosted by Politico.
The announcement comes as the US steel industry is looking to recover from its worst year since Trump’s first term in office. Domestic steelmakers have complained that a renewed uptick in imports has hurt their profits and production numbers.
Steel and aluminium were among Trump’s earliest tariffs during his first term, implementing a 25% duty on steel and a 10% duty on aluminium 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.
Trump said Friday after a meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba 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.
The two companies are challenging the US block on the deal in court.
