President Donal Trump said Thursday his administration will impose tariffs on steel and aluminum imports next week, as reported by CNN. A highly controversial move that Trump framed along national security lines.
Trump said the US will impose a 25% tariff on steel imports and 10% tariff on aluminum, capping a fierce, months-long internal debate that divided some of the President’s top advisers.
Anticipating the move, experts have said the move is likely to invite retaliatory measures from foreign countries.
It was not immediately clear whether Trump would exempt some countries from the tariffs, as his national security advisers have urged him to do to avoid hurting key US allies.
Trump tweeted earlier Thursday that many U.S industries, including steel and aluminum “have been decimated by decades of unfair trade and bad policy with countries from around the world. We must not let our country, companies and workers be taken advantage of any longer. We want free, fair and SMART TRADE!”
The United States imported 26.9 MnT of steel in 2017, and more than 16% was from Canada.
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