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Business Times
2 hours ago
- Business
- Business Times
Trump says he plans to double steel, aluminum tariffs to 50%
[WEST MIFFLIN] US President Donald Trump on Friday said he planned to increase tariffs on foreign imports of steel and aluminum to 50 per cent from 25 per cent, ratcheting up pressure on global steel producers and deepening his trade war. 'We are going to be imposing a 25 per cent increase. We're going to bring it from 25 to 50 per cent – the tariffs on steel into the United States of America, which will even further secure the steel industry in the United States,' he said at a rally in Pennsylvania. Trump announced the tariff increase on steel products at a speech given just outside of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where he was talking up an agreement between Nippon Steel and US Steel. Trump said the US$14.9 billion deal, like the tariff increase, will help keep jobs for steel workers in the US. Later, he added the increased tariff would also apply to aluminum products and that it would take effect on Jun 4. 'Our steel and aluminum industries are coming back like never before,' Trump said in a post on Truth Social. Shares of steelmaker Cleveland-Cliffs Inc surged 26 per cent after the market close as investors bet the new levies will help its profits. The doubling of steel and aluminum levies intensifies Trump's global trade war and came just hours after he accused China of violating an agreement with the US to mutually roll back tariffs and trade restrictions for critical minerals. BT in your inbox Start and end each day with the latest news stories and analyses delivered straight to your inbox. Sign Up Sign Up Trump spoke at US Steel's Mon Valley Works, a steel plant that symbolizes both the one-time strength and the decline of US manufacturing power as the Rust Belt's steel plants and factories lost business to international rivals. Closely contested Pennsylvania is also a major prize in presidential elections. The steel and aluminum tariffs were among the earliest put into effect by Trump when he returned to office in January. The tariffs of 25 per cent on most steel and aluminum imported to the US went into effect in March, and he had briefly threatened a 50 per cent levy on Canadian steel but ultimately backed off. Under the so-called Section 232 national security authority, the import taxes include both raw metals and derivative products as diverse as stainless steel sinks, gas ranges, air conditioner evaporator coils, horseshoes, aluminum frying pans and steel door hinges. The total 2024 import value for the 289 product categories came to US$147.3 billion with nearly two-thirds aluminum and one-third steel, according to Census Bureau data retrieved through the US International Trade Commission's Data Web system. By contrast, Trump's first two rounds of punitive tariffs on Chinese industrial goods in 2018 during his first term totaled US$50 billion in annual import value. The US is the world's largest steel importer, excluding the European Union, with a total of 26.2 million tonnes of imported steel in 2024, according to the Department of Commerce. As a result, the new tariffs will likely increase steel prices across the board, hitting industry and consumers alike. REUTERS
The Hill
6 hours ago
- Business
- The Hill
Answering your questions about President Trump's tariffs
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump returned to the White House in January determined to overturn decades of American policy and build a tariff wall around a U.S. economy that used to be pretty much wide open to foreign products. In the process, he has rattled financial markets and worried consumers with an ever-changing lineup of import taxes. The pattern goes something like this: He'll announce new tariffs, then suspend them, then come up with new ones. The uncertainty has paralyzed businesses who don't know what to expect. And economists worry that the tariffs will push up prices and hurt economic growth. Trump says the tariffs will protect American industry, lure factories back to the United States and raise money for the federal government. But a court case this week has raised doubts about how far he can go in asserting his power to tax imports. The Associated Press asked for your questions about Trump's tariffs. Here are a few of them, along with our answers: The U.S. Constitution gives Congress the power to establish taxes. That includes tariffs, which are just a tax on imports. Over the years, however, Congress has ceded some authority to impose tariffs to the president under various laws. For example, Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962 allows the president to slap taxes on imports that he says pose a threat to national security. Trump used Section 232 to impose tariffs on imported steel and aluminum in his first term and on cars and auto parts in his second. But Section 232 requires a Commerce Department investigation, which takes time. Likewise, Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974 allows the president to tax imports from countries found to have engaged in unfair trade practices after an investigation by the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative. Trump used Section 301 in his first term to impose tariffs on China in a dispute over Beijing's sharp-elbowed attempts to challenge U.S. technological supremacy through tactics such as subsidizing Chinese firms and forcing U.S. companies to hand over trade secrets. Trump wanted to move faster after he returned to the White House in January. So he reached for the power to impose tariffs himself without waiting around. He turned to the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) of 1977, arguing that the law allowed him to declare a national emergency and impose tariffs to address it. So in February he declared the illegal flow of immigrants and drugs an emergency and used it to justify tariffs on Canada, China and Mexico. Then last month he declared America's long-running trade deficits an emergency and imposed tariffs on almost every country in the world. At least seven lawsuits are challenging his use of that power. And on Wednesday the U.S. Court of International Trade blocked Trump's IEEPA tariffs, ruling that he'd overstepped his authority. The emergency powers act, the three-judge panel declared, did not allow the use of global tariffs. Moreover, it said, the tariffs did not address the problems the president had identified. The Trump administration has appealed the ruling, and a federal appeals court on Thursday allowed the government to continue collecting the IEEPA import taxes while the appeals continue. Congress has made some motion toward reasserting its authority. Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa and Democratic Sen. Maria Cantwell of Washington, for instance, have introduced legislation that would require presidents to justify new tariffs to Congress. Lawmakers would then have 60 days to approve the tariffs. Otherwise, they would expire. But their proposal appears to stand little chance of becoming law, given most Republican lawmakers' deference to Trump and the president's veto power. Yes, and some of his top aides swiftly promised to do so. Still, to do it legally will take longer and he may not be able to reinstate every duty that he previously imposed, or threatened to impose. In fact, the court laid out a bit of a road map, pointing out that if Trump wanted to impose duties to reduce U.S. trade deficits, he should use a different law that was expressly intended for that purpose — specifically, Section 122 of the Trade Act of 1974. Yet that law only allows tariffs of up to 15% for 150 days. The broader point of the court's ruling is that since Congress has the power to impose tariffs under the Constitution, it can only delegate that power to the president under specific laws the president has to follow. There are several Trump could use, including Section 301 of the 1974 Trade Act, but that does require an investigation of another country's trade practices to establish that they either violated a trade agreement or engaged in unfair trade practices. Another possibility is Section 338 of the Trade Act of 1930, which allows tariffs of up to 50% for countries that have discriminated against U.S. imports. It doesn't require a government agency to investigate anything. And Section 201 of the 1974 Trade Act allows duties to be imposed of up to 50%, but only after an investigation that establishes that imports have harmed a specific U.S. industry. That law was used to slap tariffs on some solar products in 2018. If the courts uphold Wednesday's ruling and the import taxes are struck down, the money will be refunded back to the U.S. companies that paid it. Otherwise, it goes to the U.S. Treasury, like personal and corporate income taxes, to pay for government expenses. Tariff revenue collections have spiked in recent months, and were on track to reach about $22 billion in May. That is up from $6 billion in February, before most tariffs were imposed. Economists at Nomura Securities estimate that the tariffs struck down by the court have raised a total of about $40 billion to $60 billion so far.
Winnipeg Free Press
7 hours ago
- Business
- Winnipeg Free Press
Answering your questions about President Trump's tariffs
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump returned to the White House in January determined to overturn decades of American policy and build a tariff wall around a U.S. economy that used to be pretty much wide open to foreign products. In the process, he has rattled financial markets and worried consumers with an ever-changing lineup of import taxes. The pattern goes something like this: He'll announce new tariffs, then suspend them, then come up with new ones. The uncertainty has paralyzed businesses who don't know what to expect. And economists worry that the tariffs will push up prices and hurt economic growth. Trump says the tariffs will protect American industry, lure factories back to the United States and raise money for the federal government. But a court case this week has raised doubts about how far he can go in asserting his power to tax imports. The Associated Press asked for your questions about Trump's tariffs. Here are a few of them, along with our answers: Can Trump impose tariffs without congressional approval? The U.S. Constitution gives Congress the power to establish taxes. That includes tariffs, which are just a tax on imports. Over the years, however, Congress has ceded some authority to impose tariffs to the president under various laws. For example, Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962 allows the president to slap taxes on imports that he says pose a threat to national security. Trump used Section 232 to impose tariffs on imported steel and aluminum in his first term and on cars and auto parts in his second. But Section 232 requires a Commerce Department investigation, which takes time. Likewise, Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974 allows the president to tax imports from countries found to have engaged in unfair trade practices after an investigation by the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative. Trump used Section 301 in his first term to impose tariffs on China in a dispute over Beijing's sharp-elbowed attempts to challenge U.S. technological supremacy through tactics such as subsidizing Chinese firms and forcing U.S. companies to hand over trade secrets. Trump wanted to move faster after he returned to the White House in January. So he reached for the power to impose tariffs himself without waiting around. He turned to the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) of 1977, arguing that the law allowed him to declare a national emergency and impose tariffs to address it. So in February he declared the illegal flow of immigrants and drugs an emergency and used it to justify tariffs on Canada, China and Mexico. Then last month he declared America's long-running trade deficits an emergency and imposed tariffs on almost every country in the world. At least seven lawsuits are challenging his use of that power. And on Wednesday the U.S. Court of International Trade blocked Trump's IEEPA tariffs, ruling that he'd overstepped his authority. The emergency powers act, the three-judge panel declared, did not allow the use of global tariffs. Moreover, it said, the tariffs did not address the problems the president had identified. The Trump administration has appealed the ruling, and a federal appeals court on Thursday allowed the government to continue collecting the IEEPA import taxes while the appeals continue. Congress has made some motion toward reasserting its authority. Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa and Democratic Sen. Maria Cantwell of Washington, for instance, have introduced legislation that would require presidents to justify new tariffs to Congress. Lawmakers would then have 60 days to approve the tariffs. Otherwise, they would expire. But their proposal appears to stand little chance of becoming law, given most Republican lawmakers' deference to Trump and the president's veto power. Can Trump use other laws to impose tariffs? Yes, and some of his top aides swiftly promised to do so. Still, to do it legally will take longer and he may not be able to reinstate every duty that he previously imposed, or threatened to impose. In fact, the court laid out a bit of a road map, pointing out that if Trump wanted to impose duties to reduce U.S. trade deficits, he should use a different law that was expressly intended for that purpose — specifically, Section 122 of the Trade Act of 1974. Yet that law only allows tariffs of up to 15% for 150 days. The broader point of the court's ruling is that since Congress has the power to impose tariffs under the Constitution, it can only delegate that power to the president under specific laws the president has to follow. Monday Mornings The latest local business news and a lookahead to the coming week. There are several Trump could use, including Section 301 of the 1974 Trade Act, but that does require an investigation of another country's trade practices to establish that they either violated a trade agreement or engaged in unfair trade practices. Another possibility is Section 338 of the Trade Act of 1930, which allows tariffs of up to 50% for countries that have discriminated against U.S. imports. It doesn't require a government agency to investigate anything. And Section 201 of the 1974 Trade Act allows duties to be imposed of up to 50%, but only after an investigation that establishes that imports have harmed a specific U.S. industry. That law was used to slap tariffs on some solar products in 2018. Where is the money collected by the tariffs going? If the courts uphold Wednesday's ruling and the import taxes are struck down, the money will be refunded back to the U.S. companies that paid it. Otherwise, it goes to the U.S. Treasury, like personal and corporate income taxes, to pay for government expenses. Tariff revenue collections have spiked in recent months, and were on track to reach about $22 billion in May. That is up from $6 billion in February, before most tariffs were imposed. Economists at Nomura Securities estimate that the tariffs struck down by the court have raised a total of about $40 billion to $60 billion so far.
Yahoo
7 hours ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Answering your questions about President Trump's tariffs
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump returned to the White House in January determined to overturn decades of American policy and build a tariff wall around a U.S. economy that used to be pretty much wide open to foreign products. In the process, he has rattled financial markets and worried consumers with an ever-changing lineup of import taxes. The pattern goes something like this: He'll announce new tariffs, then suspend them, then come up with new ones. The uncertainty has paralyzed businesses who don't know what to expect. And economists worry that the tariffs will push up prices and hurt economic growth. Trump says the tariffs will protect American industry, lure factories back to the United States and raise money for the federal government. But a court case this week has raised doubts about how far he can go in asserting his power to tax imports. The Associated Press asked for your questions about Trump's tariffs. Here are a few of them, along with our answers: Can Trump impose tariffs without congressional approval? The U.S. Constitution gives Congress the power to establish taxes. That includes tariffs, which are just a tax on imports. Over the years, however, Congress has ceded some authority to impose tariffs to the president under various laws. For example, Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962 allows the president to slap taxes on imports that he says pose a threat to national security. Trump used Section 232 to impose tariffs on imported steel and aluminum in his first term and on cars and auto parts in his second. But Section 232 requires a Commerce Department investigation, which takes time. Likewise, Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974 allows the president to tax imports from countries found to have engaged in unfair trade practices after an investigation by the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative. Trump used Section 301 in his first term to impose tariffs on China in a dispute over Beijing's sharp-elbowed attempts to challenge U.S. technological supremacy through tactics such as subsidizing Chinese firms and forcing U.S. companies to hand over trade secrets. Trump wanted to move faster after he returned to the White House in January. So he reached for the power to impose tariffs himself without waiting around. He turned to the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) of 1977, arguing that the law allowed him to declare a national emergency and impose tariffs to address it. So in February he declared the illegal flow of immigrants and drugs an emergency and used it to justify tariffs on Canada, China and Mexico. Then last month he declared America's long-running trade deficits an emergency and imposed tariffs on almost every country in the world. At least seven lawsuits are challenging his use of that power. And on Wednesday the U.S. Court of International Trade blocked Trump's IEEPA tariffs, ruling that he'd overstepped his authority. The emergency powers act, the three-judge panel declared, did not allow the use of global tariffs. Moreover, it said, the tariffs did not address the problems the president had identified. The Trump administration has appealed the ruling, and a federal appeals court on Thursday allowed the government to continue collecting the IEEPA import taxes while the appeals continue. Congress has made some motion toward reasserting its authority. Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa and Democratic Sen. Maria Cantwell of Washington, for instance, have introduced legislation that would require presidents to justify new tariffs to Congress. Lawmakers would then have 60 days to approve the tariffs. Otherwise, they would expire. But their proposal appears to stand little chance of becoming law, given most Republican lawmakers' deference to Trump and the president's veto power. Can Trump use other laws to impose tariffs? Yes, and some of his top aides swiftly promised to do so. Still, to do it legally will take longer and he may not be able to reinstate every duty that he previously imposed, or threatened to impose. In fact, the court laid out a bit of a road map, pointing out that if Trump wanted to impose duties to reduce U.S. trade deficits, he should use a different law that was expressly intended for that purpose — specifically, Section 122 of the Trade Act of 1974. Yet that law only allows tariffs of up to 15% for 150 days. The broader point of the court's ruling is that since Congress has the power to impose tariffs under the Constitution, it can only delegate that power to the president under specific laws the president has to follow. There are several Trump could use, including Section 301 of the 1974 Trade Act, but that does require an investigation of another country's trade practices to establish that they either violated a trade agreement or engaged in unfair trade practices. Another possibility is Section 338 of the Trade Act of 1930, which allows tariffs of up to 50% for countries that have discriminated against U.S. imports. It doesn't require a government agency to investigate anything. And Section 201 of the 1974 Trade Act allows duties to be imposed of up to 50%, but only after an investigation that establishes that imports have harmed a specific U.S. industry. That law was used to slap tariffs on some solar products in 2018. Where is the money collected by the tariffs going? If the courts uphold Wednesday's ruling and the import taxes are struck down, the money will be refunded back to the U.S. companies that paid it. Otherwise, it goes to the U.S. Treasury, like personal and corporate income taxes, to pay for government expenses. Tariff revenue collections have spiked in recent months, and were on track to reach about $22 billion in May. That is up from $6 billion in February, before most tariffs were imposed. Economists at Nomura Securities estimate that the tariffs struck down by the court have raised a total of about $40 billion to $60 billion so far. Sign in to access your portfolio
Miami Herald
12 hours ago
- Automotive
- Miami Herald
Major automaker considers tariff move that customers will hate
Many industries were able to breathe a sigh of relief after the U.S. Court of International Trade ruled 3-0 that President Donald Trump's Liberation Day tariffs exceeded the authorities granted him under the Constitution. But the automotive industry wasn't one of them. The automotive industry is one of the few whose 25% duties remain unchanged by Wednesday's ruling. Related: Ford CEO Jim Farley has a strong take on tariffs This is because the court ruled that the universal reciprocal tariffs he implemented exceeded what he could do under the emergency powers he invoked on April 2 to justify them. However, Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962 gives the president the authority to tax the imports of products deemed to threaten or impair the national security of the U.S. While this authority is granted only after the Commerce Department investigates that specific industry, the Commerce Department, like all executive branch departments, answers to the White House. Moreover, the two lawsuits prompting Wednesday's ruling, one filed by five small businesses and the other by 12 different states, only challenged the president's authority under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act of 1977, not Section 232. So tariffs issued under that provision, like auto tariffs, are not affected by the ruling. Also, late Thursday, an appeals court stayed the ITC court's ruling, so tariffs are definitely here to stay for now. In light of this fact, at least one foreign car company may be reaching its breaking point. Image source: Bloomberg/Getty Images Korean automaker Hyundai could soon announce across-the-board price increases to combat the 25% duties being placed on auto imports. Hyundai is considering a 1% price increase to the suggested retail price of every model in its lineup starting as soon as next week, Bloomberg reported, citing sources familiar with the company's thinking. To avoid raising prices even more, the company will also likely raise shipping charges for supplies like floor mats and roof rails that are installed before the vehicles arrive at dealerships. Related: Another Japanese automaker takes drastic action on tariffs While the company officially said the move has nothing to do with tariffs, Bloomberg's sources said otherwise. Trump has been hard on companies that defy him and raise prices in response to tariffs. He has openly criticized Walmart recently, telling the company to "eat the tariffs" instead of passing the cost along to customers. He notified the company that he would "be watching" to make sure they didn't raise prices. Other auto companies, such as Ford and Toyota, have recently used language similar to Hyundai's to justify raising prices, saying that the move is consistent with their normal seasonal price adjustments. Hyundai is the third-largest auto importer in the U.S., importing 1.1 million cars from overseas last year. Toyota and, oddly enough, America's own General Motors, were the top auto importers last year, importing 1.2 million vehicles each. The auto industry is in a tough spot. Domestic producers have publicly cheered the tariffs, since they give them a leg up against the competition, which doesn't have the same production footprint in the U.S. But behind the scenes, they also face a ton of pressure on their bottom lines. Ford, GM, Stellantis, and others have all already pulled their guidance for the year due to a lack of visibility. Ford says tariffs will wipe $1.5 billion from its EBITDA. General Motors says tariffs could cost it $5 billion in EBITDA. Stellantis imported 564,000 vehicles last year, well ahead of Ford's 420,000 imports. Both imported fewer than half of the vehicles GM did last year. "Last year, we assembled over 300,000 more vehicles in the U.S. than our closest competitor. That includes 100% of all our full-size trucks," Ford CEO Jim Farley said during the company's last earnings call. "In this new with the largest U.S. footprint will have a big advantage, and boy, is that true for Ford," he added. "It puts us in the pole position." Related: Toyota moves production of popular US sedan to Britain The Arena Media Brands, LLC THESTREET is a registered trademark of TheStreet, Inc.
