Trump announces 50% steel tariffs and hails ‘blockbuster' deal with Japan
Donald Trump
announced on Friday he was doubling foreign
tariffs
on steel imports to 50 per cent, as the US president celebrated a 'blockbuster' agreement for Japan-based Nippon Steel to invest in US Steel during a rally in Pennsylvania.
Surrounded by men in orange hardhats at a US Steel plant in West Mifflin, Mr Trump unveiled the new levies, declaring that the dramatic rate increase would 'even further secure the steel industry in the United States'.
'Nobody is going to get around that,' Mr Trump said, of the tariff rate hike from what was 25 per cent.
In a social media post after his remarks, Mr Trump announced that the 50 per cent tariffs on steel would also apply to imported aluminium and would take effect on June 4th.
READ MORE
'This will be yet another BIG jolt of great news for our wonderful steel and aluminium workers,' he stated in the post.
It was not immediately clear how the announcement would affect the trade deal negotiated earlier this month that saw tariffs on UK steel and aluminium reduced to zero.
Mr Trump's Friday tariffs announcement came a day after a federal appeals court temporarily allowed his tariffs to remain in effect staying a
decision by a US trade court
that blocked the president from imposing the duties.
The trade court ruling, however, does not impede the president's ability to unilaterally raise tariffs on steel imports, an authority granted under a national security provision called section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act.
The precise relationship between Nippon Steel and US Steel raised questions on Friday, even for some of Mr Trump's allies. The president has thrown his full support behind the deal, months after insisting he was 'totally against' a $14.9 billion bid by Nippon Steel for its US rival.
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The United Steelworkers union had previously urged Mr Trump to reject Nippon's bid, dismissing the Japanese firm's commitments to invest in the US as 'flashy promises' and claiming it was 'simply seeking to undercut our domestic industry from the inside'.
Speaking to steelworkers, Mr Trump said that US Steel would 'stay an American company' after what he is now calling 'a partnership' with Nippon.
But US Steel's website links to a stand-alone site with the combined branding of the two companies that features a statement describing the transaction as 'US Steel's agreement to be acquired by NSC'.
On the website touting the deal, there were also multiple references to 'Nippon Steel's acquisition of US Steel' and the 'potential sale of US Steel to Nippon Steel'.
Even pro-Trump commentators on Fox expressed bafflement over the exact nature of the deal.
'This is being described as 'a partnership', this deal between Nippon and US Steel – but then it's described as an acquisition on the US Steel website,' Fox host Laura Ingraham pointed out on her Friday night show.
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She asked a guest from another pro-Trump outlet, Breitbart: 'Who owns the majority stake in this company?'
When the guest said he did not know, Ms Ingraham suggested Mr Trump might not be aware of the details. 'I don't know if he was fully informed about the terms of the deal. We just don't know.'
Mr Trump's predecessor, Joe Biden, had blocked Nippon's acquisition, citing national security concerns, during his final weeks in office.
During his remarks at the rally, Mr Trump gloated that the Nippon investment would once again make the American steelmaker 'synonymous with greatness'. He said protections were included to 'ensure that all steel workers will keep their jobs and all facilities in the United States will remain open and thriving' and said Nippon had committed to maintaining all of US Steel's operating blast furnaces for the next decade.
The president also promised that every US steelworker would soon receive a $5,000 bonus – prompting the crowd to start a round of 'U-S-A!' chants.
Mr Trump told the steelworkers in attendance that there was 'a lot of money coming your way'.
'We won't be able to call this section a rust belt any more,' Trump said. 'It'll be a golden belt.'
During the event, Mr Trump invited local members of United Steelworkers on to the stage to promote the Nippon deal, which saw its leader break with the union to support it. Praising the president, Jason Zugai, vice-president of Irvin local 2227, said he believed the investments would be 'life-changing'.
But the powerful United Steelworkers union remained wary.
'Our primary concern remains with the impact that this merger of US Steel into a foreign competitor will have on national security, our members and the communities where we live and work,' United Steelworkers president David McCall said in a statement.
'Issuing press releases and making political speeches is easy. Binding commitments are hard.'
Mr Trump framed the administration's drive to boost domestic steel production as 'not just a matter of dignity or prosperity or pride' but as 'above all, a matter of national security'.
He blamed 'decades of Washington betrayals and incompetence and stupidity and corruption' for hollowing out the once-dominant US steel industry, as the jobs 'melted away, just like butter'.
'We don't want America's future to be built with shoddy steel from Shanghai. We want it built with the strength and the pride of Pittsburgh,' he said.
In his remarks at a US steel plant, Mr Trump also repeated many of the false claims that have become a feature of his rallies including the lie that the 2020 election was stolen from him. He gloated over his 2024 victory and, gesturing toward his ear that was grazed by a would-be
assassin's bullet
last year at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, said it was proof that a higher power was watching over him.
He also called on congressional Republicans to align behind his 'one big, beautiful bill,' urging attendees to lobby their representatives and senators to support the measure. – Guardian service
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US president Donald Trump surprised a South African delegation with a video montage of apartheid-era chants from Malema. Photograph: Joao Silva/The New York Times 'Scrapping BEE is not a good thing,' she added, arguing it would outrage the ANC's supporters and lead to a 'revolution'. But, she added, there were 'mitigating avenues' that could facilitate investment. 'For example, you can say, 'I'll create thousands of jobs or I'll help you build schools.'' Although Musk attended the White House session with Ramaphosa, he did not speak, but was present at the subsequent private lunch. It is seen as no coincidence that two days after the talks, the government published a proposed policy change that could enable Starlink's owner to invest. This would allow people applying for a communications licence to invest in social projects instead of giving a 30 per cent stake to 'historically disadvantaged groups' – a workaround already offered to car manufacturers. Business leaders and DA insiders hope this may be the first step to a broader rethink, but they are not holding their breath. 'BEE must remain,' says a senior business figure. 'But does it have to include ownership? We should be the mining capital of the world but we're not, and a lot of that is because of the difficulties of BEE.' One of the few obvious positive outcomes of the trip for South Africa was that Trump did not scold the country over its close ties with America's rivals and enemies, nor its hostility to Israel. Democrats and Republicans alike have been irked by South Africa's uncritical stance towards Russia, China and Iran in recent years, and also by its sponsorship in 2023 of the genocide case against Israel at the International Court of Justice over its assault on Gaza. In a sign of a possible thaw in relations, Ramaphosa says Trump might after all come to the G20 summit in November, which South Africa is hosting. Trump's secretary of state, Marco Rubio, and treasury secretary, Scott Bessent, have boycotted meetings of their G20 peers this year. Diplomats argue South Africa has been far less nimble than other nonaligned states. 'South Africa has not been as agile and responsive in balancing interests [as its peers],' says Elizabeth Sidiropoulos, head of the South African Institute of International Affairs. 'We need to think how we can manage our relationship with America more effectively, and in a way that doesn't compromise our vital economic priorities.' The scale of the economic stakes is all the more apparent since Trump launched his trade wars. South Africa has benefited hugely from America's 25-year-old Africa Growth and Opportunity Act, which allows duty-free access for certain products from some African states. 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With this in mind, Ramaphosa came to Washington with a package of measures, including preferential access for US companies to South Africa's critical minerals and gas, and also easing South African restrictions on US poultry and pork. 'We need America,' said minister Ramokgopa, adding: 'They need us as well.' For decades, South Africa has lurched between optimism and pessimism – usually to undue extremes. Now, once again, it is at a critical juncture. On the more moderate end of the ANC spectrum, Ramaphosa is seen as uniquely able to hold together a coalition that spans stalwart ANC ideologues on one side and DA free-marketeers on the other. The passage of the budget – after the DA rebelled successfully against a move by the ANC finance minister to increase VAT – has underlined the ability of the coalition to weather storms. Privately DA and ANC insiders concede it is in their interests for it to endure, although it will be tested again, not least next year when the country holds local elections. Tony Leon, a former DA leader and author of a new book on the formation of the government of national unity, says it will face more strain, but that the DA has decided it is there for the long haul. 'Crises can erupt down the line, but the DA is saying that if you want to get rid of us, you need to fire us, we are not walking out.' If the government does fall, investors fear the more radical wing of the ANC might push for an alliance with the EFF, led by the demagogic Julius Malema, and Zuma's MK, which advocate nationalisation of industry and land redistribution of the sort Trump claims falsely is already under way. For now, its defeat over VAT has put the ANC on its mettle and brought a new competitive vigour to politics. 'For all its weaknesses and internal fights, the [coalition] performed better than the ANC Government in the previous five years,' says William Gumede, a prominent commentator. 'There is a sense of hope. We've seen real movement in some areas of delivery. Public servants are feeling the pressure. Up to now they were so complacent. Now ministers are being upstaged in public by the DA. The populist cause is on the back foot – but if the [unity government] collapses the populist cause would come back.' As ever in ANC politics, there is much intrigue. Behind the scenes, a succession battle has begun ahead of leadership elections in 2027. For the first time in the party's post-apartheid history there will be no liberation-era grandee contesting the top job. The future of the coalition – and the chances of the populists making a comeback – depends on the identity of the victor. Long before Ramaphosa became president, many in and outside the ANC pinned their hopes on him as a prudent helmsman. Many of his erstwhile fans have grown disappointed and now see him as too cautious. 'The country is on autopilot,' says Mbeki. Now the final chapter of Ramaphosa's long career has begun. For his allies, he has one last opportunity to prove his sceptics wrong – and grasp the nettle of reform. – Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2025
