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US tariffs of 50 per cent on steel and aluminium will take effect from June 4 after Donald Trump signed an executive order on Tuesday escalating his global trade war a week after a court ruled the bulk of his levies illegal.
The new tariffs double existing levies on the sector of 25 per cent that the president introduced earlier this year. Duties on UK steel and aluminium will remain at 25 per cent — a carve-out for London after it signed a trade deal with Washington last month.
Trump said on Tuesday that the tariffs were necessary to prevent dumping by foreign producers that would “threaten to impair the national security”.
“The increased tariffs will more effectively counter foreign countries that continue to offload low-priced, excess steel and aluminium in the US market and thereby undercut the competitiveness of the United States steel and aluminium industries,” Trump wrote in the order.
The additional duties intensify the president’s bid to reshape international commerce even as much of his trade agenda remains in legal limbo. A court ruled last week that he lacked the authority cited when he imposed his most sweeping “liberation day” tariffs on April 2.
The ruling — which has since been paused by an appeals court — did not affect sector-specific levies, such as those on steel and aluminium, which Trump introduced using a different authority.
The additional steel and aluminium duties, which take effect from 12:01am eastern time on Wednesday, will not immediately apply to the UK, which last month became the first country to strike a trade pact with the administration.
But Trump indicated he could hit yet London with the higher rate if his commerce secretary Howard Lutnick “determines that the United Kingdom has not complied with relevant aspects” of the agreement after a July 9 deadline.
The president announced his plan to double the tariffs during a rally at a Pennsylvania steel mill last week, promising to erect a “fence” around the domestic metals industry that would in effect lock out foreign producers.
“That means that nobody’s going to be able to steal your industry,” he told a jubilant crowd of steel workers on Friday. “At 25 per cent, they can sort of get over that fence. At 50 per cent they can no longer get over the fence.”
The policy drew swift condemnation from Canada, the largest supplier of steel and aluminium to the US, where the industry warned in recent days of “mass disruption” and “catastrophic” job losses.