Trump Increases Duties on Aluminum and Steel Imports

Posted on Feb 11

Article By: Rick Walker, Vice President, TradeInsights, LCB/CCS

Late yesterday, President Trump issued a presidential proclamation that will hike tariffs, effective March 12, 2025, on imported aluminum to 25%, reinstate the full 25% tariff on steel products, end quota arrangements with the EU, South Korea and Brazil in steel and aluminum, and curtail both product exclusions and the exemptions for Canada and Mexico. The action will expand past the products covered by existing Section 232 tariffs to some downstream products. “The action also extends the tariffs to downstream products that use foreign-made steel, including fabricated structural steel, aluminum extrusions and steel strand for pre-stressed concrete”, a White House official said. New 25% tariffs on a list of additional steel and aluminum derivative products, however, won’t take effect until notification from the Commerce Department that “adequate systems are in place to fully, efficiently, and expediently process and collect tariff revenue for covered articles.” An annex to the proclamation that lists those additional products has yet to be released. The proclamations include what White House officials called a “Melt and Pour” standard for steel in North American, and a “Smelt and Cast” standard for aluminum in North America, officials said. Those standards are intended to prevent countries like Russia and China from sending their steel to Mexico or Canada, have it relabeled and shipped off to the U.S. to avoid facing tariffs.

Trump has also directed to U.S. Customs and Border Patrol to “dramatically increase its oversight” to prevent tariff circumvention, White House officials said.

As stated above, the proclamation also ends the process for exclusions from Section 232 steel tariffs. It says no more exclusions may be considered or renewed, effective immediately. Granted product exclusions will remain in effect until they expire or until the “excluded product volume is imported, whichever occurs first.” All general product exclusions will end March 12.

In a fact sheet dated today which stated in part, the following:

President Trump is reinstating the full 25% tariff on steel imports and increasing tariffs on aluminum imports to 25%. Key reforms include eliminating all alternative agreements, applying strict “melted and poured” standards, expanding tariffs to include key downstream products, terminating all general approved exclusions, and cracking down on tariff misclassification and duty evasion schemes. The countries of Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Japan, Mexico, South Korea, the European Union, Ukraine, and the United Kingdom had received exemptions, which prevented the tariffs from being effective.

By granting exemptions to certain countries, the United States inadvertently created loopholes that were exploited by China and others with excess steel and aluminum capacity, undermining the purpose of these exemptions. The President is exercising his authority under Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962 to adjust imports of steel and aluminum to protect our national security.

This statute provides the President with authority to adjust imports being brought into the United States in quantities or under circumstances that threaten to impair national security. In March 2018, President Trump invoked authority under Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962 (19 U.S.C. § 1862) to impose 25% tariffs on steel imports and 10% tariffs on aluminum. These measures were remarkably effective in supporting recovery and reinvestment in the American steel industry and saved the domestic primary aluminum industry from total collapse. But exemptions and loopholes have permitted evasion of the tariffs and weakened the effectiveness of the program.

The reinvigorated Section 232 tariffs on steel and aluminum will support the program’s original objective of revitalizing the domestic steel and aluminum industries and achieving sustainable capacity utilization of at least 80%.

The additional products won’t be subject to Section 232 tariffs if they’re processed from steel melted and poured in the U.S. To qualify, importers will have to provide CBP additional data on steel content. The proclamation also sets a process for producers or trade associations to request goods be added to the list of derivatives subject to the additional tariffs. A fact sheet argued that the exemptions led to falling domestic production.

We will continue to monitor this an provide updates as they are available.

Please contact your V. Alexander account team, or you may also contact our Trade Compliance team at tradeinsights@valexander.com with any questions.