Update | Donald Trump signs off on sweeping tariffs, singling out ‘unfair’ China and defying trade war warnings
The tariffs of 25 per cent on imported steel and 10 per cent on aluminium will come into effect in 15 days
US President Donald Trump has imposed tariffs on steel and aluminium, defying many policymakers in his own Republican Party and setting up a conflict with domestic manufacturers and countries not considered to be allies.
While Canada and Mexico were exempted from the tariffs of 25 per cent on steel and 10 per cent on aluminium because of their status as regional allies, China was singled out in a speech Trump gave about unfair trading practices that he called “an assault on our country”. China was also the only country named in a White House statement on the tariffs, amid a worldwide glut of aluminium that has shuttered US smelters.
Trump also hinted at further punitive measures aimed at China to rein in a bilateral trade deficit pegged at a record US$276 billion last year.
“We have to protect and build our steel and aluminium industries while at the same time showing great flexibility and cooperation toward those that are really friends of ours, both on a trade basis and a military basis,” Trump said from the White House.
“A strong steel and aluminium industry are vital to our national security. Our industries have been targeted for years and years, decades in fact, by unfair foreign trade practices. This is not merely an economic disaster, but it’s a security disaster.”