Trump doubles steel tariffs to 50% in ‘major announcement’

By David Goldman and Elisabeth Buchwald, CNN

(CNN) — President Donald Trump announced Friday that he would set tariffs on steel imported into the United States at 50%, double their current rate.

At a US Steel facility in West Mifflin, Pennsylvania, Trump said he had a “major announcement.” To an applauding crowd of US Steel employees, Trump said he would jack up the tariff to protect America’s steelworkers.

“We are going to be imposing a 25% increase,” Trump said. “We’re going to bring it from 25% to 50%, the tariffs on steel into the United States of America, which will even further secure the steel industry in the United States. Nobody’s going to get around that.”

Trump said he was considering a 40% tariff, but industry executives told him they wanted a 50% tariff.

“At 25% they can sorta get over that fence,” Trump said. “At 50% nobody’s getting over that fence.”

Trump on March 12 imposed sweeping 25% tariffs on all steel and aluminum imports, which were met with immediate retaliation from Canada and dismay from America’s auto industry. The European Union also lashed out and announced retaliatory tariffs that it ultimately rescinded.

Trump on Friday praised his tariffs for saving the US steel industry, claiming American steelmaking would have disappeared if he hadn’t acted to impose tariffs. He said all steel would have been foreign-made and factories would have closed.

Although tariffs may have given the moribund American steel business a much-needed boost, they could raise prices on a key ingredient for American construction and manufacturing – two industries Trump has said he wanted to support. Spot prices for domestically-sourced steel have increased since the announcement of the 25% tariff in March, as American producers didn’t have to worry about as much competition from foreign steel.

In 2018, when Trump imposed some steel tariffs in his first term, US production expanded modestly, but it sent costs rising for cars, tools and machines and shrank those industries’ output by more than $3 billion in 2021, the International Trade Commission found in a 2023 analysis. The costs may have outweighed the benefits.

Trump used a law commonly referred to as Section 232, which gives the president the authority to impose higher tariffs on national security grounds, to put increased levies on foreign steel.

In total, the US imported $31.3 billion worth of iron and steel last year, according to data from the US Commerce Department. (The government data groups iron and steel together.) Canada was the top source of iron and steel, shipping $7.6 billion worth it to the US.

‘Watching over you’

Trump during Friday’s speech also celebrated the deal he approved to allow Japan’s Nippon Steel to buy a controlling stake in US Steel.

During his campaign, Trump opposed US Steel being purchased by a foreign entity. It was one of the few things he and former President Joe Biden agreed on: Biden blocked the deal, citing a national security threat.

But Trump on Friday said he became convinced that Nippon could ultimately save US Steel and its workers.

“US Steel was being sold into foreign hands with no protections for our great steel workers,” Trump said. “And I said there’s no way we’re gonna let that happen. I was watching over you.”

But then Trump said Nippon and US Steel’s executives continued to push the issue, and the deal became good enough for Trump to ultimately relent. One key factor, he said, was a so-called golden share that gives the United States a say in how the company is run.

“They kept asking me and I kept rejecting them: No way, no way, no way,” Trump said. “Every time they came in, the deal got better and better and better for the workers.”

“I’m going to be in Washington; I’m gonna be watching over it,” Trump added.

With the new tariffs and the Nippon deal, Trump said US Steel workers had much to celebrate. He invited several workers on stage who lamented the state of America’s steel industry and offered praise for Trump.

“This is going to be a very big day,” Trump said. “This is going to be one of the biggest days in your life.”

This story has been updated with additional context and developments.

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