US President Trump announced on Sunday (February 9th) that he will announce a new 25% tariff on all steel and aluminum imports to the United States on Monday, which will be another major upgrade to his trade policy reform.

Trump told reporters that he will also announce reciprocal tariffs on Tuesday or Wednesday, which will take effect almost immediately.

He said that the tariffs imposed by the United States will be equivalent to those imposed by other countries, and this will apply to all countries.

When talking about the reciprocal tariff plan, Trump said, "It's simple, if they charge us, we charge them

During his first term, Trump imposed tariffs of 25% on steel and 10% on aluminum, but later granted duty-free quotas to several trading partners including Canada, Mexico, and Brazil. Former President Biden expanded these quotas to the UK, Japan, and the EU, and the capacity utilization rate of US steel plants has declined in recent years.

According to data from the US government and the American Iron and Steel Institute, the largest source countries for US steel imports are Canada, Brazil, and Mexico, followed by South Korea and Vietnam.

To a large extent, Canada is the largest supplier of primary aluminum metal to the United States, accounting for 79% of the total imports in the first 11 months of 2024. Mexico is a major supplier of scrap aluminum and aluminum alloys.

Trump said he will hold a press conference on Tuesday or Wednesday to provide detailed information about the reciprocal tariff plan, and added that he first revealed on Friday that he is planning reciprocal tariffs to ensure "we are treated fairly with other countries. The newly elected US president has long complained that the EU's 10% car import tariff is much higher than the US's 2.5% car tariff. He often says that Europe 'won't take our cars', but every year millions of cars are transported westward across the Atlantic.

However, the United States has imposed a 25% tariff on pickup trucks, which are an important source of profit for Detroit car manufacturers.

According to data from the World Trade Organization (WTO), the trade weighted average tariff rate for the United States is approximately 2.2%, for India it is 12%, for Brazil it is 6.7%, for Vietnam it is 5.1%, and for EU countries it is 2.7%.