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The president of the United States, Donald Trump, has slapped tariffs of 25 percent over all imports of steel and aluminum in his last impulse to remodel an international commercial order that, according to him, is unjustly stacked against US manufacturers and workers.
Signing a series of executive orders to impose rates on Monday, Trump said the US industry has been “beaten by both a friend and enemy.”
“Our nation requires steel and aluminum to be carried out in the United States, not in foreign lands. We need to create to protect the future of our country, “Trump said as he signed the orders.
“It’s time for our great industries to return to the United States. We want to return to America. This is the first of many. “
Trump said the tariffs, which had floated Sunday, would apply to all countries “without exemptions, without exceptions.”
“This is a big problem,” Trump said. “This is the beginning of making the United States return to rich.”
Trump’s latest rates, which must be valid on March 4, will surely cause retaliation movements of the affected countries, which include some of Washington’s closest allies, which increases the probability of new commercial skirmishes on multiple fronts.
“Trump’s latest tariffs about steel and aluminum are not enough for themselves to light a complete commercial war, but it is definitely an incremental movement in that direction,” said Gabriel Wildou, senior vice president of the global commercial advisory firm, I have, Al Jazeera. .
“American business partners in Europe and Asia are practically sure to retaliate, but it is likely that this reprisal will take the form of comparabably narrow sector tariffs.”
The United States imported around $ 49 billion in steel and aluminum in 2024, according to government data.
Canada was the largest steel supplier, followed by Mexico, Brazil, South Korea, Germany and Japan, according to the United States International Trade Administration.
Canada was also the largest aluminum exporter, with other important suppliers, including the United Arab Emirates, South Korea and China.
Trump’s announcement caused an almost immediate reaction in Canada.
“Trump wants us to lose his calm. But we need to stay together, with the correct answer, ”said Mark Carney, the favorite to replace the outgoing Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau as leader of the Liberal Party, in a position in X.
“In the short term, Canada needs to manage foreign trade threats with dollar tariffs per dollar and support for our critical steel and aluminum workers.”
Trump has pointed out that this week will also announce reciprocal tariffs in countries that impose taxes on US goods, without specifying which countries will be affected.
Those would also come Trump’s announcement of a 10 percent tariff over all Chinese products, which came into force last week, and 25 percent of the rates on Canadian and Mexican imports, which the president of the United States He agreed to suspend until March 1 after reaching a temporary agreement to improve security on the American border.
Economists have warned that Trump’s broad base tariff They will help to relive national manufacturing and boost state coffers.
The Fiscal Foundation, a group of experts based in Washington, DC, has estimated that Trump’s tariffs in 2018 and 2019 led to a 0.2 percent reduction in the Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
Michael Stanitis, an expert in trade from the American University in Washington, DC, said the impact of Trump’s rates would be “very serious.”
“Unless the Trump administration offers numerous exemptions to American steel and aluminum importers, US consumers can expect greater prices and production shortage, particularly in areas such as the automotive industry of the United States, which routinely use foreign supplies for National production, “Stanitis to Al Jazeera told.
“Assuming that US producers and consumers are not willing to absorb the cost of tariff of global steel and aluminum supply caused. for the reduction of American demand. “
Trump previously announced a 25 tariff about steel and 10 percent of aluminum imports from most countries during their first administration in 2018.
After initially exempting a large number of American allies and friendly countries, Trump later that year extended the tariffs to the European Union, Canada and Mexico.
In 2019, the president of the United States reached agreements with Canada, Mexico, Australia and Argentina to exempt their tariff exports.
“Looking back at the first Trump administration, similar tariffs of section 232 on steel and aluminum tariff “Wildou said.
“This time, it remains to be seen if these relatively close rates are also an omen of things to come or simply an autonomous skirmish. The result of the inter -institutional review of the Trump administration that evaluates the causes of the United States trade deficit, due to April 1, will be the key signal to indicate whether broader rates are reaching. “
Despite insisting that there would be no exemptions from tariff An exemption.
“We have a surplus with Australia, one of the few,” Trump said. “And the reason is that they buy many planes.”
Stanitis, a professor at the American University, said that Trump’s last tariffs would cause “much anguish and tension” among the United States business partners.
“It will be similar to the tensions that arose from Trump’s threat to impose 25 percent tariffs in Canada and Mexico, but with a broader impact,” Stanitis said.
“While countries like Canada and Mexico tried to appease Trump in response to narrower tariff “
