Trump Plans to Impose 25 Percent Tariffs on Steel and Aluminum

On Sunday, U.S. President Donald Trump announced plans to impose a 25 percent tariff on all steel and aluminum imports, repeating a policy from his first term. The announcement includes metal imports from Mexico and Canada, the largest foreign suppliers for the American steel market.

U.S. steelmakers stand to benefit from the announcement. Independent economists say tariffs will allow U.S. producers to raise prices, strengthening American steelmakers’ balance sheets. The tariffs Trump imposed in his first term increased prices by nine percent and raised American steelmakers’ earnings by $2.4 billion in 2018 alone, according to the Peterson Institute for International Economics. American steel consumers’ costs increased by an estimated $5.6 bil…