The president’s actions are designed to promote greater domestic steel industry production and employment. But they will increase costs for manufacturers that use the industrial metals to produce goods such as automobiles and appliances. Those higher costs are at odds with Trump’s repeated campaign promises to bring down the cost of living.
Even before the official announcement, which the president had previewed on Sunday, the European Commission slammed it as “unlawful and counterproductive.” German Chancellor Olaf Scholz vowed that Germany, Europe’s largest exporter of steel to the United States, could retaliate “within an hour” of any U.S. move.
Trump may announce additional U.S. trade measures as soon as Tuesday. He has promised to debut a new reciprocal tariff that would set U.S. import taxes to match those that other nations apply to U.S. products. One target is the European Union, which maintains a 10 percent tariff on cars imported from the United States while European vehicles are hit with a 2.5 percent U.S. tax when sold to American customers.
Trump’s reciprocal plan would represent a departure from recent decades when U.S. policymakers sought lower tariffs in most cases to reduce product costs and spur global integration. Trump’s new approach would further increase U.S. trade barriers, particularly on products from nations such as India and Brazil.
Combined with the raft of tariff plans he has proposed or implemented since taking office three weeks ago, the reciprocal proposal underscores Trump’s determination to enact historic changes in U.S. trade policy.
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