Donald Trump says there are no exemptions on 25% aluminum and steel tariffs – US politics live
Trump raises aluminum and steel tariffs
Donald Trump raised aluminum and steel tariffs to 25%, from a previous 10%, while signing a series of executive orders Monday.
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, Canada is the largest supplier of primary aluminum metal to the US, accounting for 79% of total imports in the first 11 months of 2024. Mexico is a major supplier of aluminum scrap and aluminum alloy.
Key events
On Monday, Donald Trump took aim at a “ridiculous situation” that directly affects his daily life: paper straws.
He signed an executive order that rolls back a Biden administration policy to phase out federal purchases of single-use plastics, including straws, from food service operations, events and packaging by 2027, and from all federal operations by 2035.
“It’s a ridiculous situation. We’re going back to plastic straws,” Trump told reporters at the White House as he signed the order. “These things don’t work,” he said, referring to paper straws. “I’ve had them many times, and on occasion, they break, they explode.”
But Trump, such a fan of drinking Diet Coke that he has installed a button in the Oval Office in order to summon staff to deliver the drink, has long railed against any restrictions upon plastic straws. When attempting to gain re-election in 2020, his campaign sold reusable straws on its website claiming that “liberal paper straws don’t work”.
Stephen Moore, a longtime external Trump advisor, sees tariffs as a way to “incentivize” countries to act in US interests, saying that partners like Canada, Mexico and China risk bigger losses economically than the United States.
While he believes Trump’s approach has been effective, he conceded it could be dangerous if it triggered escalating trade tensions with partners like Canada.
Similarly, Washington would want a “strong and stable economy in Mexico,” added Moore, a senior visiting fellow at The Heritage Foundation.
Inu Manak, a fellow for trade policy at the Council on Foreign Relations, warns that Trump’s tariffs could backfire.
Besides threatening tit-for-tat tariffs, Canadians also offered a “cultural response,” with people booing the US national anthem at sporting events, she said.
“This is really damaging the United States’ reputation, and I think that’s something we need to be concerned about in the long term,” she said.
To McDaniel, the risk of unilateral tariffs may upend global trade.
“What is the use of WTO membership when one of the biggest countries in the world can threaten tariffs for national security reasons in such an aggressive way?” she asked, referring to the World Trade Organization.
“It’s definitely upsetting the applecart in terms of how we’ve been thinking about the role of international trade institutions, international trade rules and trade agreements,” she said.
Trump’s reasons for levies on Canada and Mexico – as well as a lower additional rate on China – go beyond trade.
“It’s not a tariff per se, it is an action of domestic policy,” Trump’s commerce secretary nominee Howard Lutnick told lawmakers at his confirmation hearing last month.
“I don’t think anyone should be surprised about these tariffs or tariff threats,” said Christine McDaniel, a senior research fellow at the Mercatus Center.
Trump “has been very clear that he sees them as an important tool in his toolkit,” added McDaniel, a former official in George W Bush’s administration.
“He views this as much of a negotiating tool, as he does in trying to balance trade.”
Trump’s use of tariffs as a blunt weapon to extract concessions on everything from commerce to immigration and drug trafficking could redraw global trading norms, analysts have told the AFO.
Since his inauguration on 20 January, Trump has unveiled and paused blanket tariffs on Canadian and Mexican goods over migration and illegal fentanyl, and hiked duties on Chinese imports in the same breath, triggering retaliation.
And on Monday he imposed sweeping steel and aluminum levies, drawing comparisons to his first term when he imposed duties across both sectors before allowing exemptions.
Trump sees tariffs as a way to raise revenue, remedy trade imbalances and pressure countries to act on US concerns.
But “the degree of uncertainty about trade policy has basically exploded,” said Maurice Obstfeld, senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics.
Analysts can try to predict where tariffs might be imposed based on economic variables, he told AFP, but basing trade policy on non-economic objectives could throw things into a tailspin.
Trump’s tactics could lead to a “retraction of global supply chains,” he warned, or countries seeking to decouple from the US market if risk levels are deemed too high.
Hong Kong to file complaint with World Trade Organization over Trump tariff
Hong Kong will file a complaint on recent US tariffs imposed on the city to the World Trade Organization, claiming the US has completely ignored the city’s status as a separate customs territory, chief secretary Eric Chan said on Tuesday.
Justin McCurry
Trump’s decision to impose the tariff has alarmed the steel industry in South Korea, the fourth-biggest exporter of steel to the US after Canada, Brazil and Mexico. The country’s acting president, Choi Sang-mok, this week called in top government officials to discuss the potential impact the move will have on Asia’s fourth-biggest economy, and well as possible responses, the Yonhap news agency reported.
An official from Posco, South Korea’s leading steelmaker, said the firm was keeping a close watch on the tariff’s impact. “South Korea already operates under a strict quota system, so there is a chance that the full 25 percent tariff Trump announced would only apply to non-quota countries,” the official told the Korea Herald. “Since no final decision has been made, we have no choice but to wait and carefully evaluate the situation.”
South Korea’s aluminium industry is also holding its breath. Exports of aluminium foil to the US account for almost a third of the country’s aluminium shipments.
Joseph Gedeon
Chants of “let us work!” rang out across the courtyard of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) blocks away from the White House on Monday, as hundreds of angry protesters rallied against the Trump administration’s decision to suspend all operations at the US’s top financial watchdog – an agency that has clawed back more than $21bn from Wall Street for defrauded consumers.
The demonstration came after Russell Vought, Trump’s newly installed acting director of the agency, ordered all CFPB staff to stand down and stay away from the office in what critics are calling a brazen attempt to defang financial industry oversight.
“This is like a bank robber trying to fire the cops and turn off the alarm just before he strolls into the lobby,” Senator Elizabeth Warren told the crowd. “We are here to fight back.”
The shutdown order has thrown the agency into chaos, with employees reporting confusion over basic questions such as whether they can check their work email or complete routine training. The agency’s staff union filed a lawsuit challenging the legality of Vought’s stop-work order.
Canada industry minister: US tariffs on steel and aluminium ‘totally unjustified’
Canada’s Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry, François-Philippe Champagne, has responded to Trump’s aluminium and steel tariff announcement, calling them “totally unjustified”.
“We are consulting with our international partners as we examine the results,” he wrote in a statement posted to X. “Our response will be clear and calibrated.”
Here is the video of Trump saying “all hell is going to break out” if the remaining Israeli hostages are not freed by Saturday this week:
Here is some reaction to the news that a consortium led by Elon Musk saying it has offered $97.4bn to buy the nonprofit that controls OpenAI.
“This (bid) is definitely throwing a wrench in things,” Jonathan Macey, a Yale Law School professor specializing in corporate governance, told Reuters.
“The nonprofit is supposed to take money to do whatever good deeds, and if OpenAI prefers to sell it to somebody else for less money, it’s a concern for protecting the interests of the beneficiaries of the not-for-profit.”
OpenAI was valued at $157bn in its last funding round, cementing its status as one of the most valuable private companies in the world. SoftBank Group is in talks to lead a funding round of up to $40bn in OpenAI at a valuation of $300bn, including the new funds, Reuters reported in January.
Aside from any antitrust implications, a deal this size would need Musk and his consortium to raise enormous funds.
Musk’s stock in Tesla is valued at roughly $165bn, according to LSEG data, but his leverage with banks is likely to be thin after his $44bn buyout of what was then called Twitter in 2022.
To finance such a bid, Musk could sell part of his stake in Tesla or take a loan against his stake, or use his stake in rocket company SpaceX that is worth tens of billions of dollars as collateral, according to an uninvolved investment banker, who requested anonymity.
“Musk’s offer to buy OpenAI’s nonprofit should significantly complicate OpenAI’s current fundraising and the process of converting into a for-profit corporation,” said Gil Luria, analyst at DA Davidson.
“The offer seems to be backed by more credible investors … OpenAI may not be able to ignore it. It will be the fiduciary responsibility of OpenAI’s board to decide whether this is a better offer, which could call into question the offer from SoftBank.”
More now on the DOJ seeking to drop charges against New York Mayor Eric Adams.
The development comes after months of speculation that Trump’s justice department would take steps to end the criminal case against Adams, who was accused of accepting bribes of free or discounted travel and illegal campaign contributions.
The president had hinted at the possibility of a pardon in December, telling reporters that the mayor had been “treated pretty unfairly”. He had also claimed, without offering evidence, that Adams was being persecuted for criticizing Joe Biden’s policies on immigration.
After Trump’s inauguration, Adams’ lawyers had approached senior justice department officials, asking them to intervene and drop the case.
Adams’ attorney, Alex Spiro, did not immediately return a request for comment. A mayoral spokesperson and a representative of his campaign all did not return inquiries.
After Adams was indicted in September, he shifted his tone on Trump, rankling some in his own party for his public praise of the Republican and his hardline immigration agenda.
DPJ official orders federal prosecutors to drop charges against New York Mayor Eric Adams
A top official at the US Department of Justice has ordered federal prosecutors to drop charges against New York Mayor Eric Adams, a Democrat who has cultivated a warm relationship with President Donald Trump.
In a two-page memo obtained by The Associated Press, acting Deputy attorney general Emil Bove said the decision to dismiss the charges was reached without an assessment of the strength of the prosecution and was not meant to call into question the attorneys who filed the case.
But, Bove said, that the timing of the charges and “more recent actions” by the former US attorney who led the office, Damian Williams, “have threatened the integrity of the proceedings, including by increasing prejudicial pretrial publicity that risks affecting potential witnesses and the jury pool.”
Bove also wrote that the pending prosecution has “unduly restricted” Adams’ ability to “devote full attention and resources to the illegal immigration and violent crime that has escalated under the policies of the prior Administration.”
The Justice Department’s order directs that the case be dismissed without prejudice, which conceivably means that it could be refiled later.
A reporter has asked Trump what he means by the phrase “all hell will break loose”, his threat to Hamas if all hostages are not released by this week Saturday.
The reporter asked whether he meant retaliation.
Trump responded: “You’ll find out. And they’ll find out too. Hamas will find out what I mean. They’re going to find out what I mean. These are sick people and they’ll find out what I mean.”
The comments were aired on the far-right streaming channel ‘Real America’s Voice’ and shared on X by Aaron Rupar.
FEMA says it’s halting payments for migrant housing in New York after Musk criticism
The acting head of the federal agency responsible for responding to disasters said Monday that he’s suspending payments sent to New York City to house migrants and that staff who made them will be held accountable, after Elon Musk blasted the transactions on his social media platform.
Musk, who as head of the Department of Government Efficiency has consolidated control over much of the federal government and is working to cut costs and shrink the workforce, posted on X that his team “just discovered that FEMA sent $59M LAST WEEK to luxury hotels in New York City to house illegal migrants.” He said the money is intended for disaster relief and would be clawed back.
Cameron Hamilton, acting administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, reposted Musk’s comments and said the payments were suspended as of Sunday.
Musk gave no evidence to support his claim, and information from the city of New York indicated that money it’s received to care for migrants was appropriated by Congress and allocated to the city last year by FEMA, the Associated Press reports.
The city hasn’t been notified of any pause in funding, spokesperson Liz Garcia said. A statement noted that the city has received federal government reimbursements through the past week and said the matter would be discussed directly with federal officials.
Neither Hamilton nor Musk specified what kind of payments were involved. But the comments on X – reposted thousands of times – likely referred to payments made by the Shelter and Services Program, which gives money to reimburse cities, towns or organizations for immigration-related expenses.
Trump says there will be no exceptions or exemptions on tariffs
Announcing 25% tariffs on steel and aluminum today, Donald Trump said there will be no exceptions or exemptions.
“We were being pummeled by both friend and foe alike,” Trump said. “It’s time for our great industries to come back to America.”
Hours earlier, however, he’d promised an exemption was “under consideration” for Australia during a call with the country’s prime minister.
The moves are part of an aggressive push by Trump to reset global trade, as the president also eyes resources in countries such as Greenland, Panama and Canada.
Announcing the tariffs today, Trump told reporters: “It’s 25% without exceptions or exemptions, and that’s all countries, no matter where it comes from, all countries made in the United States. However, United States of America, there is no tariff, zero … We don’t need it to be made in Canada. We’ll have the jobs. That’s why Canada should be our 51st state.”
By a large margin, Canada is the largest supplier of primary aluminum metal to the US, accounting for 79% of total imports in the first 11 months of 2024.
