President Donald Trump has announced he will impose tariffs of 25 percent on all imported steel and aluminum — but this isn’t the first time he has done so.
During his first term, he implemented a similar policy, causing imports to drop and several countries to implement retaliatory tariffs.
Here’s why Trump wants to implement the new tariffs — and what happened under the same policy during his last term:
The president revealed his plan while speaking with reporters as he traveled to New Orleans to watch the Super Bowl.
“Any steel coming into the United States is going to have a 25% tariff,” Trump told reporters from Air Force One. “Aluminum, too.”
This marks yet another blow to Canada and Mexico in Trump’s trade war, as the countries are the two largest sources of US steel imports. Other major aluminum importers include Brazil, South Korea and Germany, CNBC reports.
Meanwhile, Canada is the top exporter of aluminum to the U.S., with the UAE and South Korea following behind, according to CNBC.
Analyst James Campbell told CNBC it could take time for the U.S. to feel the full effect of the tariffs.
“At the start, this could damage demand,” Campbell told the outlet. “In the longer term, we can see investment coming through.”
Since 2018, when Trump implemented similar tariffs during his first term, Campbell told CNBC that investment in U.S. steel and aluminum has gone up.
In May 2018, Trump placed a 25 percent tariff on steel and 10 percent tariff on aluminum from most countries, citing national security, the Financial Times reports. The next month, the tariffs were expanded to include the European Union, Canada and Mexico.
As a result, steel and aluminum imports dropped almost immediately, according to the Financial Times. The tariffs then sparked widespread backlash, the Financial Times reports, including tariffs from the European Union on $2.8 billion worth of US imports.
The EU targeted steel, agricultural products and other goods, including iconic American items like bourbon whiskey and Harley-Davison motorcycles. Annual American whiskey exports to the EU have since dropped by a third, representing a loss of about $256 million, according to the Financial Times.
Amid the backlash, Trump later granted exemptions to some countries, including Canada and Mexico.
