Trump to double steel tariffs to 50%, backs Nippon Steel investment in US Steel

US President Donald Trump on Friday pledged support for investments of more than US$20 billion by Japan’s Nippon Steel into US Steel, and said he would double tariffs on the industrial metal that they produce. He claimed that both moves would strengthen steelmaking in America.

Without exception, Trump said, steel import tariffs would jump to 50 per cent, “which will even further secure the steel industry in the United States”. He later said on his Truth Social platform that the increase would be effective on June 4.

“We are here to celebrate a blockbuster agreement that will ensure this storied American company stays in America,” Trump said during a speech in West Mifflin, Pennsylvania, a manufacturing town long tied to US Steel operations.

Trump said he rejected Nippon Steel’s offer “about four times”, but eventually concluded that the Japanese company “really wants to do the good things” as America will “maintain control” of one of its largest steelmakers.

Trump’s speech followed his announcement last week on his Truth Social account backing the deal, rebranding the once-blocked foreign acquisition as a “planned partnership”.

First announced in late 2023, the proposed acquisition was met with resistance by former president Joe Biden’s administration, which cited national security concerns and moved to block the deal in the final weeks of his term.