President Trump Set To Announce 25 Percent Tariffs on Steel and Aluminum Imports
‘Reciprocal tariffs” are also expected to be announced by mid-week.
President Trump is set to announce a new set of steep tariffs on steel and aluminum imported into America.
While speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One on his way to New Orleans to attend the Super Bowl, Mr. Trump said he would formally announce the new trade penalties on Monday.
“Any steel coming into the United States is going to have a 25 percent tariff,” he told reporters. “Aluminum, too,” he responded when asked if the material would be included in the tariffs.
Mr. Trump had imposed tariffs of 25 percent on steel and 10 percent on aluminum during his first term at the White House but had granted several trading partners duty-free quotas, according to a report from CBS News.
Just hours after his announcement, Communist China enacted retaliatory tariffs that harken back to Mr. Trump’s first time at the White House when America was engaged in a “tit-for-tat” trade war.
The 15 percent duties on Coal and liquefied natural gas products and 10 percent tariffs on crude oil, agricultural machinery, and large-engine cars imported from America were in response to a 10 percent tariff levied against the PRC on all imports.
Mr. Trump had previously announced that a higher 25 percent import tax would be imposed on Canada and Mexico but has paused the tariffs against the two countries for at least 30 days. The announcement was made about a week after he announced the duties on Chinese imports.
During the informal Q and A with reporters aboard Air Force One, Mr. Trump also doubled down on his intention to launch “reciprocal tariffs,” saying that he would formally announce “probably Tuesday or Wednesday.”
“If they charge us, we charge them…every country,” he told reporters. “If they are charging us 130 percent and we’re charging them nothing, it’s not going to stay that way.”
Stock prices slumped on Friday after Mr. Trump had first announced that he would launch the reciprocal tariffs mainly due to consumers’ growing worry about tariffs and inflation ticking back up in the coming months, according to The Associated Press.
