 "Trump's doubled steel tariffs to take effect today amid trade tensions")
US President Donald Trump’s hiked tariffs on imported steel are set to go into effect from Wednesday, the White House said as it published a signed executive order.
Last week, Trump announced that he would increase levies on steel imports from 25 per cent to 50 per cent, saying that the move would give a boost in domestic steel production and improve national output while reducing dependency on China.
“Increasing the previously imposed tariffs will provide greater support to these industries and reduce or eliminate the national security threat posed by imports of steel and aluminium articles and their derivative articles,” the order said.
But tariffs on metal imports from the UK will remain at the 25 per cent rate, while both sides work out duties and quotas in line with the terms of their earlier trade pact.
“We’re going to bring it from 25 per cent to 50 per cent, the tariffs on steel into the United States of America, which will even further secure the steel industry,” Trump had said in a Pennsylvania rally.
“Nobody’s going to get around that,” he added in the speech before blue-collar workers in the battleground state that helped deliver his election victory last year.
The move, however, fans tensions with key US trading partners.
The European Union warned over the weekend that it was prepared to retaliate against levies.
It said that the sudden announcement “undermines ongoing efforts to reach a negotiated solution” between the bloc and the United States.
Impact Shorts
More ShortsAlready, Washington is in talks with various countries after Trump imposed sweeping 10 per cent tariffs on almost all partners in April and announced even higher rates for dozens of economies.
With inputs from agencies
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