Trump tariffs on steel, aluminum to double starting Wednesday: White House – National
The White House confirmed Tuesday that U.S. President Donald Trump will follow through on his announced plan to double tariffs on foreign steel and aluminum imports to 50 per cent, with the increase set to take effect Wednesday.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters at a briefing that Trump will sign an executive order for the new tariff rates later on Tuesday.
“The president will be signing that executive order today, and steel and aluminum tariffs will be going to 50 per cent,” she said.
“He’s delivering on his promises to bolster our steel and aluminum industries in this country and to protect those jobs.”
Trump first made the announcement Friday at a rally in front of Pennsylvania steel workers, where he claimed he is saving the U.S. steel and aluminum industries with his tariffs and criticized countries for “dumping” cheap products he called “garbage.”
The increase comes just under three months after Trump first imposed 25 per cent steel and aluminum tariffs, resurrecting a policy from his first term.
Get daily National news
Get the day’s top news, political, economic, and current affairs headlines, delivered to your inbox once a day.
While those initial tariffs have already led to cost increases and other impacts on Canadian metals producers, the industry has warned doubling them could “have unrecoverable consequences” on the North American sector.
“Steel tariffs at this level will create mass disruption and negative consequences across our highly integrated steel supply chains and customers on both sides of the border,” the Canadian Steel Producers Association said in a weekend statement.
Industry Minister Melanie Joly said Sunday the federal government plans to prioritize Canadian steel and aluminum for federal contracts and the domestic defence manufacturing industry, which it plans to bolster with new investments.
“We are in a trade war and we know that our steel and aluminum workers are worried — we’re standing up for them,” Joly said during question period in the House of Commons on Tuesday.
“We will continue to make sure that we fight by having strong counter-tariffs, that we protect our workers and we will build through very strong major national projects.”
Ontario Premier Doug Ford vowed Monday to find domestic manufacturers to produce everything from aluminum beer and soda cans to steel beams in Canada and ensure “we onshore every single widget.”
On Tuesday, he called for Canada to retaliate to the new tariff increase with new 25 per cent tariffs of its own, claiming Trump’s new order broke a promise made after a standoff in the spring over a threatened surcharge on electricity Ontario supplies to the U.S.
“If they keep on the 25 per cent tariffs on steel, my recommendation is to slap them with a 25 per cent (tariff), because we can’t be kicked around any longer,” he told reporters in Toronto.
© 2025 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.
