Alabama reportedly imported over eight million “short tons” of steel in 2024. The raw material was used, among other things, for the six hundred thousand automobiles produced by Alabama’s Mercedes-Benz and Hyundai factories. Now, Donald Trump 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%. Alabama reportedly imported seventy five thousand “short tons” of aluminum last year, for car production among other jobs. 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. Also, there’s the acronym reportedly circulating around Wall Street known as TACO. The widely reported nickname related to Trump’s economic policies stands for “Trump Always Chickens Out.” There’s speculation that the President could waffle on this current tariffs threats, or double down on them because his ego has been bruised.
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.
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.
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."
