US President Donald Trump on Monday introduced 25 per cent tariffs on all steel and aluminium imports into the United States, on top of existing metals duties, in the latest of a series of moves aimed at forcibly cutting trade deficits with other countries.
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“Today I’m simplifying our tariffs on steel and aluminium … This is the beginning of making America rich again,” Trump said in the Oval Office on Monday, as he signed dual executive orders that will go into effect on March 4. “No exceptions, no nothing.”
“We were being pummelled by both friend and foe alike,” Trump added. “It’s time for our great industries to come back to America.”
Trump’s targeting of the industrial metals amid warnings the move may lead to higher consumer prices mirrors a measure he took early in his first presidential term. In 2017, Trump imposed tariffs of 25 per cent on steel and 10 per cent on aluminium.
The US leader later dropped the punitive levies for some allied countries, including Canada, Mexico and Australia, and gave exemptions to Brazil, South Korea and Argentina based on pre-tariff volumes.
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