As expected, the White House today, as of 12:01 A.M. ET, officially increased tariffs on steel and aluminum products imported into the United States from 25% to 50%. This move is the latest in the ongoing series of tariff actions taken by the U.S. since President Trump began his second term.
In an Executive Order (EO) issued on June 3, the White House said that, effective June 4, the 50% tariff rate on steel and aluminum products was based on continued threats to national security and an insufficient domestic steel industry recovery. This increase will not apply to the United Kingdom, it said, with the country having a 25% tariff, due to the trade agreement recently brokered between the two countries.
“I have determined that it is necessary to increase the previously described steel and aluminum tariffs to adjust the imports of steel and aluminum articles and their derivative articles so that such imports will not threaten to impair the national security,” said President Trump in the EO. “In my judgment, the increased tariffs will more effectively counter foreign countries that continue to offload low-priced, excess steel and aluminum in the United States market and thereby undercut the competitiveness of the United States steel and aluminum industries.
Although the previously imposed steel and aluminum tariffs have helped provide critical price support in the United States market, they have not yet enabled these industries to develop and maintain the rates of capacity production utilization that are necessary for the industries’ sustained health and for projected national defense needs. I have determined that 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 aluminum articles and their derivative articles.”
This follows a March 12 action, initially announced in February, by the White House in which it reinstated a 25% tariff on steel imports and upped the aluminum tariffs from 10% to 25%. These tariffs were initially implemented in March 2018, during President Trump’s first term in office under Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962, due to security concerns, in the form of a 25% tariff on steel imports and a 25% tariff on aluminum imports. The White House said that when these tariffs were rolled out in 2018, various countries, including Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Japan, Mexico, South Korea, the European Union, Ukraine, and the United Kingdom, received exemptions, that it said prevented the effectiveness of the tariffs.
And it added in March that these tariffs will restore fairness to steel and aluminum markets and end unfair trade practices and also the global dumping of steel and aluminum, while citing a report from the first Trump administration that stated steel import levels and global excess were weakening the U.S. domestic economy and threatening to impair national security and excess production and capacity, particularly in China, has been a major factor in the decline of domestic aluminum production.
In a research note published today by S&P Global, the firm wrote that the previous steel tariffs may not have had an immediate, significant impact. The reason for that, it explained, is that, “U.S. imports of steel products covered by the Section 232 duties only fell by 4.9% year over year in March 2025 in dollar terms and by 4.1% compared to the prior six-month average. Shipments of aluminum increased by 3.6% year over year and by 3.9% compared to the prior three-month average.”
What’s more, S&P explained that these increases may also see in kind replies from other countries that have already applied, or plan to apply, duties in response to the original Section 232 duties, including mainland China, Canada, and the European Union.
“Those countries that are already negotiating a trade deal with the U.S.—including Japan and South Korea—may push to receive a similar exemption to the higher rates as the U.K. has negotiated,” it said.
In a previous interview, Matt Muenster, Chief Economist for Green Bay, Wisc.-based Breakthrough, an innovator in transportation management, dedicated to creating transparent and fair strategies for the world’s leading shippers, said that the tariffs placed by the White House on automobiles, steel and aluminum, and semiconductors would raise the price of manufacturing Class 8 trucks, adding that steel tariffs would affect the build out of energy infrastructure, like pipelines
“Tariffs on industries like steel, aluminum, and automotive are expected to drive up costs in an effort to boost U.S. domestic manufacturing,” said Muenster. “However, due to the highly integrated nature of supply chains, building domestic manufacturing capabilities could take several years.”
