Trump to impose import tariffs on steel, aluminium

Washington: US President Donald Trump has said that he would impose a 25 per cent import tariff on steel and 10 per cent on aluminium to protect US producers, a move that could trigger a trade war with China and Europe.

An executive order in this regard would be signed next week, Mr Trump said after a meeting with executives of steel and aluminium companies on Thursday.

“It’ll be for a long period of time...And you’ll have protection for a long time in a while. You’ll have to regrow your industries, that’s all I’m asking,” Mr Trump said in the presence of a pool of reporters.

Mr Trump said the import tariff hike would create jobs in the US and benefit its industries.

He said the people representing the United States had “destroyed” the steel industry, aluminium industry, and other industries.

“Frankly, when you look at all the plants, the car plants, automobile plants that moved down to Mexico for no reason whatsoever, except we didn’t know what we were doing, Mr Trump said.

“We’re going to build our steel industry back and we’re going to build our aluminium industry back,” he said.

His announcement was welcomed by the domestic steel and aluminium industry and several lawmakers, but drew sharp reaction from other quarters who felt that this would have a detrimental impact on the American economy.