President imposes sweeping tariffs
Trump: Action ends ‘assault’ on aluminum, steel
WASHINGTON — Brushing aside stern warnings from ally nations, U.S. companies and lawmakers in his own party, President Donald Trump imposed substantial tariffs Thursday on steel and aluminum imports from across the globe.
His order — which included an indefinite but conditional exemption for Canada and Mexico — marked the first time in more than three decades that a U.S. president has invoked national security as the basis for ordering such trade restrictions.
The protectionist move is almost certain to be contested at the World Trade Organization and met with retaliatory measures from other nations, risking a trade war.
And the seemingly impromptu rollout, lack of details and uncertain process ahead could mean that the tariff plan — like so many other Trump programs — finds itself tied up in legal challenges or congressional roadblocks.
The new tariffs — 25 percent on imported steel and 10 percent on aluminum — will take effect in 15 days.
“The American aluminum and steel industry has been ravaged by aggressive foreign trade practices. It’s really an assault on our country. It’s been an assault,” Trump said during a White House ceremony before signing the orders. He was accompanied by steel and aluminum workers wearing factory uniforms and holding white hard hats.
American steel and aluminum workers have long been betrayed, but “that betrayal is now over,” Trump said. The former real estate developer said politicians had for years lamented the decline in the industries, but nobody was willing to take action.
The final order retreated sharply from the blanket tariffs Trump spoke of just a week ago.
He exempted — at least temporarily — Canada and Mexico from the tariffs, and opened the door for virtually every other country to also avoid them — provided they offer a “satisfactory alternative,” according to the decree.
Exactly what might be acceptable as an alternative wasn’t spelled out. “We’re going to be very flexible,” Trump emphasized.
Trump suggested, for example, that there could be a carve-out for Australia. “We have a very close relationship with Australia, we have a trade surplus with Australia. “We’ll be doing something with them. We’ll be doing something with some other countries,” he said.
“We’re going to see who’s treating us fairly, who’s not treating us fairly,” Trump said. He then invited trading partners who want to avert the new tariffs to make their case to his chief trade official, Robert Lighthizer. Part of the consideration, he said, “is going to be military. Who’s paying the bills, who’s not paying the bills.”
Trump suggested that Canada and Mexico could make their exemption permanent by agreeing to U.S. demands in the renegotiation of the North American Free Trade Agreement. So far the two trading partners in the 24-year-old pact have flatly rejected Trump’s effort to link the two issues.
“The negotiation process for the modernization of NAFTA will follow its course independently of this or any domestic policy measure taken by the United States government,” Mexico’s Finance Ministry said Thursday in a statement.
Administration officials said other factors that would be considered for exemption from the tariffs could include reducing a bilateral trade deficit with the U.S. or coughing up more money for joint international security expenses. China, Trump noted, is currently discussing ways to reduce its overall $500 billion trade surplus with the U.S. — a figure Trump has frequently cited, though the actual goods surplus was $375 billion last year.
But in exempting Canada and Mexico — and leaving wiggle room for other countries to get waivers as well — Trump has undercut his own claim that the duties are necessary to protect national security, said James Bacchus, a former House lawmaker and exchairman of the appellate body of the World Trade Organization.
“This is looking less and less like a national security measure and more and more like economic pressure,” Bacchus said, noting that the cherry-picking of countries to exclude was a clear violation of the WTO.
Economists have said that U.S. steelmakers produce more than what’s needed for the Defense Department and its various military programs.
The U.S. also could be hit with retaliatory tariffs. In anticipation of the tariff orders, European Union leaders earlier in the week endorsed a plan to target items such as American steel, chewing tobacco and orange juice for countertariffs.
After Trump issued the tariff decrees, Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., said he was heartened by the president’s insistence that he would be flexible in invoking tariffs. “I’m encouraged,” Alexander said, although he has warned that the tariffs would cost jobs in his state.
Other Republicans far less diplomatic.
“These so-called ‘flexible tariffs’ are a marriage of two lethal poisons to economic growth — protectionism and uncertainty,” said Sen. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz. Sen. Ben Sasse, R-Neb., called it “a really stupid policy,” saying: “It’s going to hurt American consumers and it’s going to hurt American workers.”
Despite the vocal opposition, it was doubtful whether Congress would attempt to block Trump’s orders. Some Democrats supported the tariffs as helpful to American workers. “I’m glad we are finally standing up for ourselves,” said West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin.
Trump won the presidency in part on the promise to strengthen American industry.
While the tariffs will help domestic producers, at least for awhile, economists and other U.S. businesses that use imported steel said that the tariffs would drive up metal prices, hurt consumers and ultimately lead to net job losses for Americans.
The last president who justified trade protection under national security was Ronald Reagan, when he shielded domestic machine tool makers from imports, prompting some countries to voluntarily restrain exports of the products for a period of time. were