President Donald Trump has announced the US will double its current tariff rate on steel and aluminum imports from 25% to 50%, starting on Wednesday.
Speaking at a rally in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania on Friday, President Trump said the move would help boost the local steel industry and national supply, while reducing reliance on China.
He started by saying he had “saved” US Steel, America’s biggest steel manufacturer, located in Pittsburgh, with the 25% tariffs he implemented during his first term as president in 2018.
Trump also said that $14bn would be invested in the area’s steel production through a partnership between US Steel and Japan’s Nippon Steel, though he later told reporters he had yet to see or approve the final deal.
The announcement is the latest turn in Trump’s rollercoaster approach to tariffs since re-entering office in January.
US steel manufacturing has been declining in recent years, and China, India and Japan have pulled ahead as the world’s top producers. Roughly a quarter of all steel used in the US is imported, with the country relying on Mexican and Canadian steel.
The announcement comes amid a court battle over the legality of some of Trump’s global tariffs, which an appeals court has allowed to continue after the Court of International Trade ordered the administration to halt the taxes.
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