Trump's Next Round of Tariffs—25% on Steel and Aluminum—Won't Be So Easily Averted

Plans to announce reciprocal tariffs on trading partners are also in the mix

- Gavin Bade, Lingling Wei, Vipal Monga & Annie Linskey

President Trump said that he plans to impose 25% tariffs Monday on imports of steel and aluminum, part of the structural change to the country's trade system that the president promised on the campaign trail.

He also said he plans to make an announcement about reciprocal tariffs on Tuesday or Wednesday. "Very simple, they charge us, we charge them," Trump said Sunday. Those will go into effect "almost immediately," Trump said.

"Tariffs are going to help. Tariffs are going to make it very successful," Trump said as he previewed the new levies on Sunday afternoon to reporters flying with him aboard Air Force One en route from Florida to Louisiana, where he attended the Super Bowl.

The reciprocal tariffs plan will be applied to all trading partners, Trump said, but some countries that already charge similar tariffs on American goods that the U.S. charges on their products may not see much change. Steel and aluminum tariffs will apply to every nation exporting the metals to the U.S.

Previously, the president has also pledged that the U.S. would impose tariffs on computer chips, pharmaceuticals, copper, oil and gas imports as soon as mid-February.

Trump delayed his most aggressive tariff threats on imports from Canada and Mexico last week, but those close to him had been warning that more duties were on the way—and they won't so easily be averted.

Trump went right up to the brink of imposing 25% duties on products from the two largest U.S. trading partners. He hit the pause button just hours before the tariffs were expected to go into effect, after striking deals related to immigration and fentanyl smuggling.