Trump’s 50% tariffs on imported steel, aluminum go into effect

Tariffs on imports of steel and aluminum to the U.S. doubled to 50% starting at 12:01 a.m. Wednesday, after President Donald Trump followed through on his plan to increase the duties.

Trump said on Friday during a visit to a Pittsburgh-area steel mill that he would increase the tariff to 50%, upping the levy to protect steelworker jobs in the U.S. He signed an executive order formalizing the tax increase on Tuesday. 

“We don’t want America’s future to be built with shoddy steel from Shanghai, we want it built with the strength and the pride of Pittsburgh,” Trump said from the U.S. Steel facility in West Mifflin, Pennsylvania

The 50% tariffs “will more effectively counter foreign countries that continue to offload low-priced, excess steel and aluminum in the United States market and thereby undercut the competitiveness of the United States steel and aluminum industries,” the executive order said.

In addition to raising steel and aluminum import tariffs to 50%, Trump said he would sign off on a deal in which Japan’s Nippon Steel will acquire U.S. Steel for $14 billion.

Related: Trump to impose 50% tariff on imported steel

The U.S. is the world’s largest steel importer, with imports accounting for about 25% of the steel used in the country annually, according to the International Trade Administration.

CNN reported that in 2024, the U.S. imported $31.3 billion worth of iron and steel and $27.4 billion of aluminum, according to the Commerce Department. Canada is the largest supplier of steel to the U.S., followed by Brazil, Mexico and South Korea.

Canadian authorities said they are working to have the tariffs on steel and aluminum removed.

“Canada’s new government is engaged in intensive and live negotiations to have these and other tariffs removed as part of a new economic and security partnership with the United States,” the office of Prime Minister Mark Carney said in a statement to CTV News on Tuesday.

Unifor, Canada’s largest labor union, called for retaliatory tariffs on U.S. steel and aluminium to match the 50% tariff imposed by Trump.

“These tariffs are killing investment in our steel, aluminum, and auto sectors, and we are already seeing the consequences in lost jobs and economic instability,” Unifor National President Lana Payne said Wednesday in a news release. “We need immediate and forceful action to defend good jobs and safeguard our national economic security.”

The 50% tariffs on steel and aluminum apply to all countries, except the United Kingdom, which announced a preliminary trade deal with the Trump administration in May. 

The rate for steel and aluminum imports from the U.K. remains at 25% until at least July 9.

The tariff hike arrives about three months after Trump implemented 25% duties on all imported steel and aluminum, including Mexico and Canada, its partners in the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement.

Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said the 50% tariffs on imported steel and aluminum are in violation of the USMCA.

“It’s an unfair measure,” Sheinbaum said Wednesday during her daily morning news conference. “In Mexico’s case, it’s unfair because Mexico imports more steel and aluminum than it exports. Formally, a tariff is imposed when there’s a deficit for the United States, in other words, as if Mexico were exporting more than it was importing. It has no legal basis because there’s a national treaty. It’s being considered for U.S. security reasons. It’s unsustainable.”

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