Podcast: President Trump’s 25% US steel tariffs

President Donald Trump’s plan to levy 25% tariffs on all steel imports into the United States will reset the punitive rate enforced by Section 232 legislation in 2018, the Speaking of Steel podcast has heard.

An executive order signed by the President on February 10 set out plans to impose the tariff from March 12. This will effectively remove Section 232 exemptions for key trading partners Canada and Mexico, along with the tariff rate quotas (TRQs) of key trading partners such as the European Union, United Kingdom and Japan. 

MEPS International’s steel market analysts Laura Hodges and Jon Carruthers-Green joined managing editor Tom Sharpe to debate the implication of the measures. 

For insight into the implications of President Trump’s 25% tariff plan, watch the Speaking of Steel podcast’s ‘President Trump’s 25% US steel tariffs’ episode via your favoured platform, below: 

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President Trump described his signing of the executive order detailing the introduction of sweeping new tariffs on steel and aluminium imports into the US as “the beginning of making America rich again”. 

However, the US imported over 26 million tonnes of steel in 2024 - up 2.5% year-on-year. Hodges highlighted that the introduction of tariffs would apply upward pressure to steel prices in the US. This is especially true of products which were previously exempt from Section 232 tariffs as they could not be produced domestically. 

“Steel prices will rise in the near term due to these reinstated Section 232 tariffs”, she said.  

“In fact, prices had already begun to rise in anticipation of new tariffs. Nucor, for example has raised its CSP (consumer spot price) for hot rolled coil to USD790 per short ton. That’s a rise of USD40 since Inauguration Day. Meanwhile, the futures market saw its March contract jump over USD50 per short ton.” 

• Regular North America steel market insight features in MEPS’s International Steel Review. The monthly publication provides steel prices, price indices, market commentaries and six-month price forecasts for the US, Canada, China, Japan, South Korea and Taiwan, as well as seven European steelmaking states. Contact MEPS for subscription details.