Trump tells US steelworkers he’s going to double tariffs on foreign
steel to 50%
[May 31, 2025] By
MICHELLE L. PRICE, MARC LEVY and DARLENE SUPERVILLE
WEST MIFFLIN, Pa. (AP) — President Donald Trump on Friday told
Pennsylvania steelworkers he’s doubling the tariff on steel imports to
50% to protect their industry, a dramatic increase that could further
push up prices for a metal used to make housing, autos and other goods.
In a post later on his Truth Social platform, he added that aluminum
tariffs would also be doubled to 50%. He said both tariff hikes would go
into effect Wednesday.
Trump spoke at U.S. Steel’s Mon Valley Works–Irvin Plant in suburban
Pittsburgh, where he also discussed a details-to-come deal under which
Japan’s Nippon Steel will invest in the iconic American steelmaker.
Trump told reporters after he arrived back in Washington that he still
has to approve the deal.
“I have to approve the final deal with Nippon and we haven't seen that
final deal yet, but they've made a very big commitment and it's a very
big investment,” he said.
Though Trump initially vowed to block the Japanese steelmaker’s bid to
buy Pittsburgh-based U.S. Steel, he reversed course and announced an
agreement last week for “partial ownership” by Nippon.
It’s unclear, though, if the deal his administration helped broker has
been finalized or how ownership would be structured. Nippon Steel has
never said it is backing off its bid to outright buy and control U.S.
Steel as a wholly owned subsidiary, even as it increased the amount of
money it promised to invest in U.S. Steel plants and gave guarantees
that it wouldn’t lay off workers or close plants as it sought federal
approval of the acquisition.
“We’re here today to celebrate a blockbuster agreement that will ensure
this storied American company stays an American company,” Trump said as
he opened an event at one of U.S. Steel’s warehouses. “You’re going to
stay an American company, you know that, right?”
As for the tariffs, Trump said doubling the levies on imported steel
“will even further secure the steel industry in the U.S.” But such a
dramatic increase could push prices even higher.
Steel prices have climbed 16% since Trump became president in
mid-January, according to the government's Producer Price Index.
As of March 2025, steel cost $984 a metric ton in the United States,
significantly more than the price in Europe ($690) or China ($392),
according to the U.S. Commerce Department. The United States produced
about three times as much steel as it imported last year, with Canada,
Brazil, Mexico and South Korea being the largest sources of steel
imports.
Analysts have credited tariffs going back to Trump’s first term with
helping strengthen the domestic steel industry, something that Nippon
Steel wanted to capitalize on in its offer to buy U.S. Steel.
The United Steelworkers union remained skeptical.
Its president, David McCall, said in a statement that the union is most
concerned “with the impact that this merger of U.S. Steel into a foreign
competitor will have on national security, our members and the
communities where we live and work.”
Trump stressed the deal would maintain American control of the storied
company, which is seen as both a political symbol and an important
matter for the country’s supply chain, industries like auto
manufacturing and national security.
Trump, who has been eager to strike deals and announce new investments
in the U.S. since retaking the White House, is also trying to satisfy
voters, including blue-collar workers, who elected him as he called to
protect U.S. manufacturing.
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President Donald Trump speaks at U.S. Steel Mon Valley Works-Irvin
Plant, Friday, May 30, 2025, in West Mifflin, Pa. (AP Photo/David
Dermer)
 U.S. Steel has not publicly
communicated any details of a revamped deal to investors. Nippon
Steel issued a statement approving of the proposed “partnership” but
also has not disclosed terms.
State and federal lawmakers who have been briefed on the matter
describe a deal in which Nippon will buy U.S. Steel and spend
billions on U.S. Steel facilities in Pennsylvania, Indiana, Alabama,
Arkansas and Minnesota. The company would be overseen by an
executive suite and board made up mostly of Americans and protected
by the U.S. government’s veto power in the form of a “golden share.”
Unionized steelworkers said there is some split opinion in the ranks
over Nippon Steel’s acquisition, but that sentiment has shifted over
time as they became more convinced that U.S. Steel would eventually
shut down their Pittsburgh-area plants.
Clifford Hammonds, a line feeder at the plant where Trump spoke,
said at the very least the deal will help upgrade the aging plant
and help increase production.
“It’s putting money back into the plant to help rebuild it, because
this plant is old, it’s falling apart. We ain’t really producing as
much as we should be because, like I said, this place is old. It’s
falling apart. We need some type of investment to fix the machines
that we’ve got working,” Hammonds said.
No matter the terms, the issue has outsized importance for Trump,
who last year repeatedly said he would block the deal and foreign
ownership of U.S. Steel, as did former President Joe Biden.
Trump promised during the campaign to make the revitalization of
American manufacturing a priority of his second term in office. And
the fate of U.S. Steel, once the world’s largest corporation, could
become a political liability in the midterm elections for his
Republican Party in the swing state of Pennsylvania and other
battleground states dependent on industrial manufacturing.
Trump said Sunday he wouldn’t approve the deal if U.S. Steel did not
remain under U.S. control. He said it will keep its headquarters in
Pittsburgh.
The president closed his remarks Friday by thanking steelworkers.
“With the help of patriots like you, we’re going to produce our own
metal, unleash our own energy, secure our own future, build our
country, control our destiny,” he said. “We are once again going to
put Pennsylvania steel into the backbone of America like never
before.”
In recent days, Trump and other U.S. officials began promoting
Nippon Steel’s new commitment to invest $14 billion on top of its
$14.9 billion bid, including building a new electric arc furnace
steel mill somewhere in the U.S.
He was joined onstage Friday by several U.S. Steel workers,
including Jason Zugai, vice president of the United Steelworkers
local union at the Irvin finishing plant that defied the
international union in supporting Nippon Steel’s bid to buy U.S.
Steel.
Zugai, whose father had lost his job in a steel mill years earlier,
lobbied local officials and members of Congress to support the deal,
believing that U.S. Steel would otherwise shut down its
Pittsburgh-area plants eventually.
In his remarks, Zugai told Trump, “I knew you wouldn’t let us down”
and called Nippon Steel’s proposed $14 billion in investments into
steel production in the U.S. “life-changing.”
___
Associated Press writers Josh Boak in Washington and Yuri Kageyama
in Tokyo contributed to this report.
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