Is it the start of a trade war? Trump to impose 25% tariffs on steel imports

It's the news of the day for the metal industry. After months of shilly-shallying, the U.S. President Trump announced on March 1st he plans to impose tariffs of 25 percent for foreign-made steel and 10 percent for aluminum.

More details of the plan, such as which products will be targeted, and which countries will be included (or excluded), aren't yet clear. Trump's action follows investigations undertaken by the US Department of Commerce that concluded that steel and aluminum imports threatened US national security.

The U.S. will probably face repercussions from the rest of the world over the decision. The EU immediately responded to the announcement of the imposition of restrictions. President of the European Commission, Jean-Claude Juncker said: "We strongly regret this step, which appears to represent a blatant intervention to protect US domestic industry. We will not sit idly while our industry is hit with unfair measures.”

The move draw protests also from many American industries dependent on metals. As reported by Platts downstream manufacturers warned that such restrictive measures could lead to the US losing more jobs than it will save in steel.

Photo credit: worldsteel / Seong Joon Cho


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