US President Donald Trump has broadened US tariffs on steel and aluminium to apply universally at a rate of 25%. The changes will take effect beginning 12 March 2025.
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Trump removed “loopholes and exemptions” applicable to steel and aluminium imported to the US from close allies and trading partners in a presidential proclamation on 10 February 2025. The proclamation eliminates exemptions applicable to imports from Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, the EU, Japan, Mexico, South Korea, and the UK that had been implemented in response to tariffs introduced in 2018.
Beginning 12 March 2025, steel and aluminium imports entering the US will be subject to 25% tariffs. The move “restore[s] a true 25% tariff on steel and elevate[s] the tariff to 25% on aluminum,” according to a fact sheet accompanying the proclamation. The tariff rate previously applicable to aluminium was 10%.
Firm response expected
US trading partners were not amused. EU President Ursula von der Leyen said in a statement, “I deeply regret the US decision to impose tariffs on European steel and aluminum exports. Tariffs are taxes – bad for business, worse for consumers. Unjustified tariffs on the EU will not go unanswered – they will trigger firm and proportionate countermeasures.”
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau reportedly said that Canada’s response would be “firm and clear,” though he hoped to avoid dollar-for-dollar reciprocal tariffs. Trump reportedly has unspecified plans to announce reciprocal tariffs on “every country,” which would go into effect “almost immediately.”
What’s new?
The expanded customs duties under section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act 1962 add new derivative steel articles and increase the tariff rate applicable to aluminium. Steel processed outside the US from steel melted and poured in the US is excepted.
Similarly, if derivative steel articles are identified as subject to the 25% tariff but are not included in chapter 73 of the US Harmonized Tariff Schedule, the levy will only apply to the steel content of the derivative articles. According to the proclamation, the US Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) will provide guidance on importers’ steel content reporting rules.
The proclamation also directs the CPB to establish a process within 90 days for including additional steel derivative articles and to modify the Harmonized Tariff Schedule as appropriate.
In addition to eliminating existing exemptions, the proclamation narrows or eliminates other avenues of relief. For example, Trump revoked, effective immediately, the Commerce secretary’s authorisation to exclude certain articles that aren’t meaningfully produced in the US. That revocation is intended to “relieve the administrative burden” associated with the requirement that directly affected parties in the US request exclusions.
Trump also ended the temporary exemption for imports of steel from Ukraine. Ending those measures will, according to the proclamation, prevent abuses that have led to increased imports from sources other than Ukraine and anti-dumping duty evasion and will support the US steel industry without harming Ukraine’s economic recovery.
Old new rules
The White House fact sheet described the 2018 tariffs as “remarkably effective in supporting recovery and reinvestment in the American steel industry and saved the domestic primary aluminum industry from total collapse. But exemptions and loopholes have permitted evasion of the tariffs and weakened the effectiveness of the program.”
Some US trading partners view the effect of the 2018 tariffs differently. "When President Trump implemented tariffs on Canadian steel in 2018, we saw massive disruptions and harm on both sides of the border, hurting both America and Canada,” Catherine Cobden, Canadian Steel Producers Association president and CEO said in a statement.
More recently, trade relations escalated quickly then promptly de-escalated when Trump announced blanket tariffs on Canadian and Mexican goods on 1 February 2025. Those tariffs were delayed until 4 March 2025.
The steel and aluminium duties will take effect just eight days later.