Donald Trump's 50% steel and aluminium tariffs take effect
In a move that has reignited trade tensions with key allies, United States President Donald Trump has doubled tariffs on steel and aluminium imports.
The new rates, which came into effect early on Wednesday, raise duties from 25 percent to 50 percent. Trump says the measure is designed to bolster the struggling US metals sector.
'We started at 25 and then, after studying the data more, realised that it was a big help, but more help is needed. And so that is why the 50 [percent tariff] is starting tomorrow,' said White House economic adviser Kevin Hassett during a steel industry event in Washington on Tuesday.
The executive order applies to all trading partners except the United Kingdom, which has reached a provisional trade deal with Washington during a 90-day pause on broader tariffs.
British exports will continue to face a 25 percent rate until at least July 9.
The hike is expected to weigh heavily on Canada and Mexico, two of the US's closest economic allies and among the largest suppliers of steel. Census Bureau data shows Canada alone exports more aluminium to the US than the rest of the top 10 countries combined. Almost half of the US aluminium consumption is imported.
Canada's Prime Minister Mark Carney's office confirmed that 'intensive and live negotiations' were ongoing to remove the tariffs.
Mexico's Economy Minister Marcelo Ebrard slammed the decision as irrational, noting the imbalance in steel trade between the two nations.
'It makes no sense for the United States to levy a tariff on a product in which you have a surplus,' he said, adding that Mexico would seek an exemption.
The European Union criticised the decision, saying it 'strongly regrets' the move and warned it could take retaliatory action, accusing Washington of undermining attempts at a negotiated settlement.
OECD chief economist Alvaro Pereira told the AFP news agency that the tariffs have already dampened global trade, investment and consumption, and that the US will bear the brunt of the fallout.
While several of Trump's tariff measures face legal scrutiny, they remain in force during the appeals process.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Al Jazeera
an hour ago
- Al Jazeera
US economy adds 139,000 jobs as growth slows
Employers in the United States have slowed hiring even though they added a solid 139,000 jobs in May. While that was higher than the forecast of 133,000 jobs, it was lower than the 147,000 hires in April, Labor Department data released on Friday showed. It also sharply revised downward the data for March and April by 95,000 jobs. The US Labor Department said the biggest gains were in the healthcare industry which added 62,000 jobs; followed by the leisure and hospitality sector which added 48,000, 30,000 of which were in food services. The social services sector followed suit, adding about 16,000 jobs. The federal government contracted 22,000 jobs. Industries including manufacturing, wholesale trade, retail trade, transportation and warehousing showed little change as tariff anticipation spending slowed. The unemployment rate held steady at 4.2 percent. Wages ticked up slightly. The average wage grew by 15 cents or 0.4 percent. 'The job market is steadily but surely throttling back. Monthly job gains are moderating, and most telling, the gains are being consistently revised lower, and not by a little bit. Indeed, after revision, monthly job gains appear to be closing in on 100,000,' Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody's Analytics, told Al Jazeera. 'It [the jobs report] does signal the job market and economy are increasingly fragile as the fallout from the global trade war intensifies.' Private payrolls also tumbled this month, according to payroll firm ADP in a report on Wednesday, which showed the US economy added only 37,000 jobs, the lowest in two years. Unlike the Labor Department report which lags by a few weeks, this report is more immediate. 'After a strong start to the year, hiring is losing momentum,' Nela Richardson, chief economist at ADP, said in a release. What was particularly notable about the ADP report was the set of industries with net job losses. The manufacturing sector recorded a net loss of 3,000. Natural resources and the mining industry lost 5,000. Those losses in the goods-producing sectors were offset by a job gain of 6,000 in construction. The only substantive gains were in the leisure and hospitality sector, a notoriously low-paying sector, which added 38,000, according to ADP. Financial services followed in the gains, adding 18,000 jobs. However, those gains were offset by losses, including in education and health, which cut 13,000 jobs. The trade and transportation and utilities sector cut 4,000 jobs. Last month, the ADP report showed 62,000 jobs were added, in stark contrast to the Labor Department's 147,000, because it is considered a more immediate measure. On Tuesday, the job openings and labour turnover survey or JOLTS report, which captures data at a significant lag to the Labor Department and ADP, showed there were 7.4 million open jobs in April, up roughly 191,000 from the month before. But just because jobs are open does not mean they are being filled, according to Elise Gould, senior economist at the Economic Policy Institute. 'I think that reflects some cautiousness on the part of both employers and workers,' Gould told Al Jazeera. While job openings in sectors like trade, transportation and utilities increased, hiring actually decreased. This comes as major employers have implemented hiring slowdowns and freezes across sectors. American Airlines reportedly put in place a hiring freeze for flight attendants in April amid uncertainty in the travel market. The financial services company T Rowe Price slowed down its hiring. And amid a slowdown in research grants, universities have put in place hiring freezes, most recently Johns Hopkins University, which currently has 600 National Institutes of Health-funded medical research projects under way. As Al Jazeera has previously reported, small businesses said because of the looming tariffs, they've had to implement hiring freezes. Hiring for small businesses declined in May by 4.4 percent compared with this time last year, according to Homebase, a payroll service provider for more than 150,000 small businesses accounting for roughly 3.8 million workers. To forecast what to expect in the jobs market moving forward, EPI's Gould suggests a close watch on key indicators including housing starts and factory orders, which indicate that manufacturers and construction companies will need to cut jobs if trends continue. 'Some of the government data [like the jobs and JOLTS report] takes a lot longer to sort of see trouble to catch that turning point and you might see it in the other measures a little bit faster, but there's also a lot of volatility in them,' Gould said. In April, residential home construction declined by 0.9 percent, the third straight month of declines, suggesting a pullback that indicates both builders and consumers are wary about building new homes and making improvements. At the same time, orders for goods made in US factories fell by 3.7 percent in April, according to the Census Bureau.
Al Jazeera
4 hours ago
- Al Jazeera
Trump live: US president ‘not interested' in talking to Musk, official says
The feud between United States President Donald Trump and billionaire Elon Musk continues to simmer, with a White House official telling reporters that there are no plans for a call between the two tensions between Musk and Trump surfaced in a high-profile way on Thursday, with the president threatening to yank government contracts from Musk's companies and Musk suggesting Trump should be latest report from the Labor Department shows the US job market holding steady, with approximately 139,000 jobs added in May, despite economic turbulence from Trump's tariff military veterans are rallying in Washington, DC, to mark the anniversary of the D-Day offensive during World War II — and to show opposition to any cuts to their benefits. Update: Date: 3m ago (14:17 GMT) Title: Here's what has been happening this week Content: Trump has fallen out with his former adviser Elon Musk, with the billionaire bashing the president's tax bill and suggesting that he should be impeached. On Thursday, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced sanctions on International Criminal Court judges over their investigations of possible war crimes by Israel and US troops. And on Wednesday, Trump imposed a ban on travellers from 12 countries, including Afghanistan, Myanmar, Chad, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen, and restrictions on seven others. Also this week, the US president spoke to his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping as the two countries agreed to resume trade talks. Update: Date: 5m ago (14:15 GMT) Title: Welcome to our coverage Content: Hello and thank you for joining our live coverage of United States President Donald Trump's administration. Stay with Al Jazeera's Live team as we bring you all the latest developments, analysis and reactions throughout the day.
Al Jazeera
5 hours ago
- Al Jazeera
Can AI be held accountable? AI ethicist on tech giants and the AI boom
Tech companies and countries across the globe are racing to develop more advanced Artificial Intelligence. As this technology becomes more entrenched in everyday life, there are growing concerns over AI amplifying misinformation and being used in government surveillance and war. So where does the current boom leave efforts to keep AI in check? And how is the growing influence of tech billionaires shaping global politics? Marc Lamont Hill speaks to the CEO of Humane Intelligence, and former Machine Learning Ethics director at Twitter, Rumman Chowdhury.
