Trump to announce 25% steel and aluminum tariffs in latest trade escalation

Trump to announce 25% steel and aluminum tariffs in latest trade escalation
ArcelorMittal Dofasco steel plant is seen on February 4, 2025, in Hamilton, Canada. The plant exports steel to the United States. (Getty Images via AFP)
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Updated 10 February 2025
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Trump to announce 25% steel and aluminum tariffs in latest trade escalation

Trump to announce 25% steel and aluminum tariffs in latest trade escalation
  • Canada and Mexico to be hit, being the largest sources of US steel imports, aloing with Brazil
  • Canada is also the largest supplier of primary aluminum metal to the US, accounting for 79 percent

ABOARD AIR FORCE ONE: US President Donald Trump said on Sunday he will introduce new 25 percent tariffs on all steel and aluminum imports into the US, on top of existing metals duties, in another major escalation of his trade policy overhaul.
Trump, speaking to reporters on Air Force One on his way to the NFL Super Bowl in New Orleans, said he will announce the new metals tariffs on Monday.
He also said he will announce reciprocal tariffs on Tuesday or Wednesday, to take effect almost immediately, applying them to all countries and matching the tariff rates levied by each country.
“And very simply, it’s, if they charge us, we charge them,” Trump said of the reciprocal tariff plan.
The largest sources of US steel imports are Canada, Brazil and Mexico, followed by South Korea and Vietnam, according to government and American Iron and Steel Institute data.
 

 

By a large margin, hydropower-rich Canada is the largest supplier of primary aluminum metal to the US, accounting for 79 percent of total imports in the first 11 months of 2024.
“Canadian steel and aluminum support key industries in the US from defense, shipbuilding and auto,” Canadian Innovation Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne posted on X.
“We will continue to stand up for Canada, our workers, and our industries.”

Trump also said that while the US government would allow Japan’s Nippon Steel to invest in US Steel, it would not allow this to become a majority stake.
“Tariffs are going to make it very successful again, and I think it has good management,” Trump said of US Steel.
Nippon Steel declined to comment on the latest announcements from Trump.




US President Donald Trump said on February 7, 2025 that Japan's Nippon Steel will make a major investment in US Steel, but will no longer attempt to take over the troubled company. (AFP)

Quota questions
Trump during his first term imposed tariffs of 25 percent on steel and 10 percent on aluminum, but later granted several trading partners duty-free exemptions, including Canada, Mexico and Brazil. Mexico is a major supplier of aluminum scrap and aluminum alloy.
Former President Joe Biden later negotiated duty-free quota arrangements with Britain, the European Union and Japan. It was not immediately clear from Trump’s announcement what will happen to those exemptions and quota arrangements.
“Quebec exports 2.9 million tons of aluminum to (the US), that is, 60 percent of their needs. Do they prefer to get supplies from China?” Francois Legault, premier of Quebec, said on X.
“All this shows that we must begin to renegotiate our free trade agreement with the United States as soon as possible and not wait for the review planned for 2026. We must put an end to this uncertainty.”
Steel mill capacity usage jumped to levels above 80 percent in 2019 after Trump’s initial tariffs, but has fallen since then as China’s global dominance of the sector has pushed down steel prices. A Missouri aluminum smelter revived by the tariffs was idled last year by Magnitude 7 Metals.

Matching rates
Trump said he would hold a news conference on Tuesday or Wednesday to provide detailed information on the reciprocal tariff plan, adding that he first revealed on Friday that he was planning reciprocal tariffs to ensure “that we’re treated evenly with other countries.” The new US president has long complained about the EU’s 10 percent tariffs on auto imports being much higher than the US car rate of 2.5 percent. He frequently states that Europe “won’t take our cars” but ships millions west across the Atlantic every year.
The US, however, enjoys a 25 percent tariff on pickup trucks, a vital source of profits for Detroit automakers General Motors , Ford and Stellantis’ US operations.
The US trade-weighted average tariff rate is about 2.2 percent, according to World Trade Organization data, compared to 12 percent for India, 6.7 percent for Brazil, 5.1 percent for Vietnam and 2.7 percent for European Union countries.

Border steps
In a separate Fox News interview, Trump said Canada’s and Mexico’s actions to secure their US borders and halt the flow of drugs and migrants are insufficient ahead of a March 1 tariff deadline.
Trump has threatened to impose tariffs of 25 percent on all Mexican and Canadian imports unless America’s two largest trading partners take stronger actions. He paused the tariffs until March 1 after some initial border security concessions from the two countries, with Mexico pledging to add 10,000 National Guard troops to its border and Canada deploying new technology and personnel and taking new anti-fentanyl steps.
Asked whether Mexico’s and Canada’s actions were good enough, Trump replied: “No, it’s not good enough,” Trump said. “Something has to happen, it’s not sustainable, and I’m changing it.”
Trump did not say what Canada and Mexico needed to do to avoid broad tariffs on March 1.
 


Mass Russian drone attack on Ukraine’s Kharkiv, nine injured

Mass Russian drone attack on Ukraine’s Kharkiv, nine injured
Updated 27 March 2025
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Mass Russian drone attack on Ukraine’s Kharkiv, nine injured

Mass Russian drone attack on Ukraine’s Kharkiv, nine injured
  • Mayor Ihor Terekhov said there had been at least 12 drone strikes on the city, a frequent target of Russia’s military, located some 30 km from the border

Russian forces launched a mass drone attack on Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second largest city, late on Wednesday, injuring nine people and causing considerable damage, emergency services and officials said.
Emergency services, posting on the Telegram messaging app, said the attacks started four fires in the city center and posted pictures of firefighters battling flames alongside piles of rubble. The strikes, it said, caused serious damage to buildings.
Mayor Ihor Terekhov said there had been at least 12 drone strikes on the city, a frequent target of Russia’s military, located some 30 km (18 miles) from the border.
Kharkiv resisted capture in the early weeks of Russia’s February 2022 full-scale invasion of Ukraine, but has been repeatedly hit by drones and missiles and Russian forces changed the focus of their campaign to Ukraine’s east.
A drone attack also triggered fires in the central city of Dnipro, regional governor Serhiy Lysak said on Telegram. Pictures posted online showed smoke and flames drifting skyward.
No casualties were immediately reported in the city.


South Sudan VP Machar’s party trying to locate him after arrest warrant issued

South Sudan VP Machar’s party trying to locate him after arrest warrant issued
Updated 27 March 2025
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South Sudan VP Machar’s party trying to locate him after arrest warrant issued

South Sudan VP Machar’s party trying to locate him after arrest warrant issued
  • Earlier on Wednesday, the United Nations reported clashes over the past 24 hours between forces loyal to the two men outside the capital Juba

The party of South Sudan’s First Vice President Riek Machar said on Wednesday it was trying to locate him after the defense minister and chief of national security “forcefully entered” his residence and delivered an arrest warrant.
In a statement, the SPLM-IO party condemned “a blatant violation of the Constitution and the Revitalized Peace Agreement,” which ended a 2013-2018 civil war between forces loyal to Machar on one side and to President Salva Kiir on the other.
“His bodyguards were disarmed, and an arrest warrant was delivered to him under unclear charges. Attempts are currently being made to relocate him,” the statement said.
A government spokesperson could not be immediately reached for comment.
Earlier on Wednesday, the United Nations reported clashes over the past 24 hours between forces loyal to the two men outside the capital Juba.
Those clashes followed weeks of tensions that originated in fighting in the country’s northeast between government troops and a militia that has historically been close to Machar’s forces.
Kiir’s government, in turn, detained several officials from Machar’s party, including the petroleum minister and the deputy head of the army, leading the UN to warn of the risk of renewed civil war.
The civil war from 2013-2018 resulted in hundreds of thousands of deaths in the world’s youngest nation, which won its independence from Sudan in 2011.


Trump announces 25 percent tariffs on foreign-built cars, light trucks

Trump announces 25 percent tariffs on foreign-built cars, light trucks
Updated 27 March 2025
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Trump announces 25 percent tariffs on foreign-built cars, light trucks

Trump announces 25 percent tariffs on foreign-built cars, light trucks

WASHINGTON: President Donald Trump on Wednesday announced imposition of 25 percent tariffs on all cars and light trucks not built on US soil.
“What we’re going to be doing is a 25 percent tariff on all cars that are not made in the United States. If they’re made in the United States, it is absolutely no tariff,” he announced at the White House.


Kosovo says Kenya joined countries recognizing it

Kosovo says Kenya joined countries recognizing it
Updated 27 March 2025
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Kosovo says Kenya joined countries recognizing it

Kosovo says Kenya joined countries recognizing it

PRISTINA: Kosovo’s President Vjosa Osmani on Wednesday said that Kenya had become the latest nation to recognize Kosovo as an independent country and has pledged to open diplomatic ties.
“Kosovo continues to move forward on its path of integration and strengthening its international position,” Osmani said on her Facebook account.
In her post, she published a proclamation she said was from Kenyan President William Ruto that spoke of Kosovo’s right to self-determination and included a statement that said “this recognition will extend to the establishment of diplomatic relations.”
Serbia’s ministry of foreign affairs “strongly condemned” Kenya’s decision to recognize “the unilaterally declared independence of so-called ‘Kosovo’.”
“Such a move constitutes a gross violation of international law and a direct violation of United Nations Security Council Resolution 1244,” the ministry said in a statement.
Kosovo declared independence from Serbia in 2008 after a war in the late 1990s between Serb forces and ethnic Albanian insurgents in what was then a breakaway Serbian province.
While the United States, many European nations and other countries recognize Kosovo as independent, Serbia and two of its most powerful allies — Russia and China — do not.
Serbia says it has persuaded some countries to withdraw recognition, but Kosovo denies this and insists that more than 100 countries do.


‘Shocking’ mass bleaching drains life from Australian reef

‘Shocking’ mass bleaching drains life from Australian reef
Updated 26 March 2025
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‘Shocking’ mass bleaching drains life from Australian reef

‘Shocking’ mass bleaching drains life from Australian reef
  • Warm oceans have just cooked the orals this year. It wouldn’t be amiss to throw in the word ‘unprecedented’

SYDNEY: Alarming levels of coral bleaching have been recorded off Australia’s western coast, scientists said Wednesday, turning huge chunks of a celebrated reef system a sickly dull white.

A months-long marine heatwave had “cooked” the sprawling Ningaloo Reef, ocean scientist Kate Quigley said, part of a world heritage-listed marine park renowned for vibrant corals and migrating whale sharks.

Although environment officials were still verifying the scale of damage, Quigley said it was on track to be the region’s worst mass-bleaching event in years.

“Warm oceans have just cooked the corals this year,” Quigley said.

“It wouldn’t be amiss to throw in the word ‘unprecedented.’

“It has gone deep, it’s not just the top of the reef that is bleaching. Many different species of coral are bleaching.”

Branching through shallow waters along Australia’s western coast, the 300-km Ningaloo Reef is one of the largest “fringing reefs” in the world.

The unfolding mass bleaching looked to be the worst since 2011, Quigley said.

Ocean waters lapping Western Australia have been as much as 3 degrees warmer than average over recent summer months, according to the government weather bureau.

Rising temperatures shot past the “bleaching threshold” sometime in mid-January, according to monitoring by the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

Bleaching occurs when warm waters trigger a biological response forcing coral to expel the colorful algae embedded in their tissues.

“Bleaching is a sickness, but it does not mean outright death,” said Quigley, a research scientist with environmental charity the Minderoo Foundation.

“But if it is bad enough, the corals will die.”

Government data showed smaller patches of coral bleaching had also been spotted at the northern tip of the more famous Great Barrier Reef on Australia’s east coast.

Quigley said the Ningaloo Reef and the Great Barrier Reef were shaped by different weather patterns — and it was rare to see bleaching on both at the same time.

“What we’re seeing is the level of ocean warming is so great, it’s overriding the local conditions in some places. “It’s just shocking. When we take a national snapshot it’s extremely concerning.”

The Great Barrier Reef, a popular tourist drawcard, has suffered five mass bleachings over the past eight years.

Quigley said the extent of damage on the Great Barrier Reef was not currently widespread enough to be considered “mass bleaching.”

Global average temperatures were the hottest on record in 2024, with prolonged heat waves in many of the planet’s oceans causing particular alarm.

Australia sits on bulging deposits of coal, gas, metals and minerals, with mining and fossil fuels stoking decades of near-unbroken economic growth.

But it is increasingly suffering from more intense heat waves, bushfires and drought, which scientists have linked to climate change.