President Donald Trump made good on his promise to impose tariffs on steel and aluminum, and in an attempt to change what he sees as a massive imbalance with respect to our industrial economic allies.
To that end, and after much negotiation, the Trump Administration announced that:
The implementation of steel and aluminum tariffs follows the announcement by President Trump on March 8, 2018, of a 25 percent tariff on steel imports and a 10 percent tariff on aluminum imports.
In the initial proclamations in March, President Trump welcomed any country with which the United States shares a security relationship to discuss alternative means to address threatened impairment to the national security caused by their steel and aluminum exports to the United States. The President made it clear that the Administration was willing to work with those countries to find separate arrangements that would meet the national security requirements of the United States.
The United States has reached an arrangement with South Korea on steel, which was announced on April 30. Included in today’s proclamations, the United States has reached arrangements on steel with Australia, Argentina, and Brazil, and with Australia and Argentina on aluminum.
The United States was unable to reach satisfactory arrangements, however, with Canada, Mexico, or the European Union, after repeatedly delaying tariffs to allow more time for discussions.
The Trump Administration calls the current levels of worldwide production of steel and aluminum “excessive” and that the “glut” of imports into the United States “threatens national security.”