US President will double tariffs on most steel and aluminum imports starting Wednesday, the White House announced on Tuesday, intensifying the administration’s ongoing trade battles.
The executive order increasing duties on both steel and aluminum from 25% to 50% is the latest escalation in .
The increase comes into effect at 12:01 a.m. (4:01 a.m. GMT).
The move is meant to “counter foreign countries that continue to offload low-priced, excess steel and aluminum in the US,” the White House said.
to workers at a US Steel plant in Pennsylvania, Trump said the move will “further secure the [US] steel industry.”
“Nobody’s going to get around that,” he said.
The order also said it will “eliminate the national security threat posed by imports of steel and aluminum articles and their derivative articles.”
The tariff hike excludes imports from the United Kingdom, which will continue to face a 25% rate as part of a recent bilateral trade agreement.
Other key trading partners, including Canada, Mexico, and the European Union, are bracing for potential economic fallout, with of retaliatory measures.
Meanwhile, steel prices have risen 16% since Trump took office in mid-January, according to the government’s Producer Price Index.
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