US President Donald Trump said on Friday he planned to double tariffs on steel and aluminium imports to 50% from 25%, starting from Wednesday, ratcheting up pressure on global producers and deepening his trade war.
Here’s a summary of the major trade partners it will affect.
Steel
Roughly a quarter of all steel used in the U.S. is imported, the bulk of it from neighbours Mexico and Canada or close allies in Asia and Europe such as Japan, South Korea and Germany.
While China is the world’s largest steel producer and exporter, it sends very little to the United States. Tariffs of 25% imposed in 2018 shut most Chinese steel out of the market.
China exported 508,000 net tons of steel to the U.S. last year or 1.8% of total American steel imports.
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Aluminium
For aluminum, the U.S. is more heavily reliant on imports. Roughly half of all aluminium used in the U.S. is imported, with the vast majority coming from Canada. At 3.2 million tons last year, Canadian imports were twice those of the next nine countries combined.
The next largest sources of imports are the United Arab Emirates and China, at 347,034 and 222,872 metric tons, respectively.
The U.S. aluminium smelting industry is small by global standards. Total smelter capacity in the country was just 1.73% of the global total according to the U.S. Geological Survey.
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