From 25 to 50 percent: Trump announces doubling of steel tariffs

While the EU is still hoping for a negotiated solution to the trade dispute with the US, Trump wants to double steel tariffs from 25 to 50 percent. This is likely to make exports of European steel products to the United States even more difficult.

US President Donald Trump wants to double tariffs on steel imports into the United States from the current 25 percent to 50 percent of the value of the goods. Trump announced this in a speech to employees of a steel plant in the US state of Pennsylvania. The additional fees on imports would strengthen the US steel industry, the Republican said. Trump emphasized that "tariffs" is his absolute favorite word. The Pennsylvania plant would no longer exist if he hadn't already increased tariffs on steel imports during his first term, Trump added to the workers.

The US government justifies the current tariffs on steel imports with the protection of national security. Trump has already announced, threatened, or implemented numerous other tariffs. In addition to a new punitive levy of ten percent of the value of goods on almost all imports, he has also announced specific, higher tariffs on imports from many countries. This also affects major trading partners such as China and the European Union. The doubling of the tariff rate will be implemented next week, the White House announced in online media.

Trump's tariffs keep the courts busy

Various legal proceedings are currently underway regarding the legality of many of the tariffs announced by Trump, and no final decisions have yet been made. However, the additional duties on steel imports are not affected. Importing steel products into the US is likely to become even more difficult with the higher tariffs.

Many of the trading partners targeted by Trump with new tariffs, including the European Union, are already negotiating with the US to avoid tariffs through new trade agreements. In the case of the EU, Trump has recently suspended threatened additional tariffs of 50 percent of the value of imported goods until early July to allow more time for negotiations.