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The 25 percent tariff the president is proposing is almost identical to a move in his first term. Economists and foreign governments know what will come next.
By Ana Swanson
Ana Swanson has written about international trade for over a decade.
- Feb. 10, 2025, 11:59 a.m. ET
President Trump is poised to move forward with sweeping tariffs on foreign steel and aluminum on Monday, re-upping a policy from his first term that pleased domestic metal makers, but hurt other American industries and ignited trade wars with allies on multiple fronts.
The 25 percent tariffs that the president said he would impose on foreign steel and aluminum will be welcomed by domestic steelmakers, who argue they are struggling to compete against cheap foreign metals. As they did during Mr. Trump’s first term, U.S. metal makers have been lobbying the administration for protection, and Trump officials agree that a strong domestic metal sector is essential for U.S. national security.
But the tariffs will invite plenty of controversy. They are likely to rankle America’s allies, like Canada and Mexico, who supply the bulk of U.S. metal imports. And they could incite retaliation on U.S. exports, as well as pushback from American industries that use metals to make cars, food packaging and other products. Those sectors will face significantly higher prices after the tariffs go into effect.
That’s what happened in Mr. Trump’s first term, when he slapped 25 percent tariffs on foreign steel and aluminum. While he and President Biden eventually ended up rolling back those tariffs on most major metal suppliers, they were often replaced with other trade barriers, like quotas. Studies have shown that while the measures helped U.S. metal makers, they ended up hurting the broader economy, because they raised prices for so many other industries.
Mr. Trump seemed to disregard that history on Sunday. As he flew to the Super Bowl aboard Air Force One, he said he planned to impose a 25 percent tariff on steel and aluminum on all imports. He also said that he would move forward with so-called reciprocal tariffs, which would raise certain U.S. tariff rates to match those of foreign countries, later this week.
“Very simply, if they charge us, we charge them,” he said.
On his first day in office, the president commissioned a variety of detailed reports on nearly two dozen trade measures, which were meant to underpin his coming trade actions. But he has not waited for the results.
