Trump says he plans to double steel, aluminum tariffs to 50%

U.S. President Donald Trump announced on Friday his intention to raise tariffs on imported steel and aluminum to 50% from 25%, intensifying pressure on global steel manufacturers and escalating his trade conflict.

“We are going to be imposing a 25% increase. We’re going to bring it from 25% to 50% – 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 declared the increased tariffs near Pittsburgh, where he was promoting a deal between U.S. Steel and Nippon Steelm Trump stated that the $14.9 billion agreement, similar to the tariff hike, will aid in preserving jobs for American steelworkers.

He subsequently shared on social media that the higher tariff would also impact aluminum products and that it would begin on Wednesday. Shares of steel producer Cleveland-Cliffs Inc (CLF.N) rose 26% following the market closure as investors speculated that the new tariffs will boost its earnings.

Canada’s Chamber of Commerce quickly denounced the tariff hike as “antithetical to North American economic security.”

“Unwinding the efficient, competitive and reliable cross-border supply chains like we have in steel and aluminum comes at a great cost to both countries,” Candace Laing, president of the chamber, said in a statement.

Australia’s centre-left government also condemned the tariff increase as “unjustified and not the act of a friend.”

“They are an act of economic self-harm that will only hurt consumers and businesses who rely on free and fair trade,” Trade Minister Don Farrell said in a statement.

Australia, a key U.S. security ally in the Indo-Pacific, would “continue to engage and advocate strongly for the removal of the tariffs,” Farrell said.

Trump spoke at U.S. Steel’s Mon Valley Works, a steel plant that symbolizes both the one-time strength and the decline of U.S. 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.