‘Any steel coming into the United States is going to have a 25 percent tariff,’ the president says.
President Donald Trump said he plans to impose 25 percent tariffs on steel and aluminum imports on Feb. 10.
“Any steel coming into the United States is going to have a 25 percent tariff,” he told reporters on Feb. 9 on Air Force One as he flew from Florida to New Orleans to attend the Super Bowl. When asked about aluminum, he told reporters that it will also be subject to the trade penalties.
White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt said that the new tariffs would come on top of the existing duties on steel and aluminum.
Trump also told reporters that he would soon announce “reciprocal tariffs” on Feb. 11 or Feb. 12, meaning that the United States could impose duties on products from countries that have placed tariffs on U.S. goods.
“If they are charging us 130 percent and we’re charging them nothing, it’s not going to stay that way,” he told reporters.
On Feb. 7, Trump elaborated on the reciprocal tariffs during comments at the White House alongside Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba.
“Where a country … charges us so much, and we do the same,” he said. “I think that’s the only fair way to do it. That way, nobody’s hurt.”
According to the U.S. Department of Commerce, the European Union levies as much as 50 percent tariffs on motorcycles and 10 percent on automobiles, while India places 60 percent duties on U.S. cars and hefty tariffs on agricultural products.
During the campaign, Trump often said that he would place tariffs on a variety of goods and countries, sometimes even suggesting that the United States could abolish the income tax in favor of tariffs.
Earlier this month, he warned that he would place a 25 percent tariff on goods from Canada and Mexico, along with a 10 percent tariff on Chinese goods, if those countries did not curb illegal immigration or fentanyl production and trafficking into the country. Ultimately, he pushed back the Canada and Mexico tariffs by a month after the leaders of the two countries agreed to strengthen their border security.
