Donald Trump announces he will DOUBLE tariffs on imported steel in crushing blow to Australia’s billion-dollar export industry

President Donald Trump has announced he will increase the tariff on steel imported into the United States from 25 per cent to 50 per cent. 

Trump made the shock announcement during a speech to workers at the U.S. Steel owned Mon Valley Works-Irvin Plant in West Mifflin, a suburb of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

The increased tariffs will take effect on June 4. Trump later said on Truth Social they will also apply to aluminium imported into the US.

Australia shipped about $370million worth of steel and iron products to the U.S. in 2023, and $430million worth of aluminium in 2024, according to the United Nations Comtrade database.

‘We are going to be imposing a 25 per cent increase,’ Trump told the crowd of workers. 

‘We’re going to bring it from 25 per cent to 50 per cent, the tariffs on steel into America, which will even further secure the steel industry in the United States.’

The move is separate to a series of ‘Liberation Day tariffs’, which had been deemed illegal by a US court last week, but reinstated a day later.

Trump also discussed a deal under which Japan´s Nippon Steel will invest in the American steel industry.

Trump had initially vowed to block the Japanese steelmaker´s bid to buy U.S. Steel, but reversed course and announced an agreement last week that he described as ‘partial ownership’ by Nippon. 

It´s unclear, though, if the deal his administration helped broker has been finalized or how ownership would be structured.

‘We´re here today to celebrate a blockbuster agreement that will ensure this storied American company stays an American company,’ Trump said.

‘You´re going to stay an American company, you know that, right?’ he told workers.

More to come.