United States, new tariffs - Foreign company

The encumbrances will be added to those that already existed, 15% for steel and 10% for aluminum, which Trump had imposed during his first term. He later granted exemptions to Canada, Mexico and Brazil.

During his administration, Democrat Joe Biden expanded those tariff-free quotas to the European Union and the United Kingdom. In addition, as he announced last week, he will also adopt reciprocal tariffs, that is, he will tax imports from those countries that do the same on imports of American products. However, he has backed down on the application of 10% tariffs to China for shipments of less than $800, known as de minimis, since United States does not have the capacity to manage them.

While US metal unions typically applaud protectionist measures for their industry, the new tariffs risk raising input costs for a wide range of American manufacturers. In 2023, the US imported $82.100 billion of steel and iron and $27.400 billion of aluminum, and exported $14.300 billion. This is yet another chapter in the trade war that the new administration launched last week and has already prompted a response from China, which has imposed tariffs on $14.000 billion worth of US products.

Some analysts expected Trump to follow the same script with China as with Canada and Mexico, countries against which it also announced tariffs, but to which it granted a one-month extension after holding last-minute talks with their leaders. However, the extra 10% tariff on Chinese products is already in force.

Source: CESCE