The United States officially imposes 25% tariffs on steel and aluminum

The Trump administration initiated measures to impose a 25% tariff on imported steel and aluminum products from all countries at 00:01 EST on March 12 (1:01 pm Japan time). Japan is also subject to the tariffs. The “exceptional measures” that had been allowed before were abolished, and the additional tariffs were fully applicable.

With the abolition of the exceptional measures, the “tariff exemption” that allowed the import of a certain amount of products without additional tariffs was also abolished after the 11th. Japan was originally a country subject to tariff quotas.

Japan’s steel exports to the United States reached more than 300 billion yen, and aluminum reached 30 billion yen. Although it accounts for a small proportion of exports to the United States, the impact of the tariff increase on Japanese companies may expand due to the addition of a wide range of derivative products.

The Trump administration believes that “steel is related to national security”, so it is accelerating the implementation of the domestic steel industry protection policy that has been carried over from the previous Biden administration.