Washington.- The reinforced tariffs of President Donald Trump to steel and aluminum, which will be implemented in the next few hours, will affect products derived from these metals worth almost 150,000 million dollars, from nuts and screws to excavator leaves, and threaten with cost increases both for the industry and for consumers.
It was established that metal tariffs will effectively increase to 25% because exemptions, exclusions and previous quotas will expire at 12:01 hours on Wednesday (10:01 p.m. Time in central Mexico) with hundreds of derived products subject to rights for the first time.
Trump lashed out on Tuesday against Canada in the midst of the growing commercial tensions with the ally of the United States, threatening with 50% tariffs to Canadian steel and aluminum, but then backed down after the Prime Minister of Ontario, Doug Ford, withdrew a 25% surcharge to electricity exports from the province to the United States.
A Reuters analysis about products subject to new tariffs according to Trump’s plan reveals that a wide range of imported parts and imported tractors, metal furniture, construction materials and machinery components will be subject to these taxes.
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Trump’s order, issued last month with the aim of strengthening national security tariffs of section 232 on steel and aluminum imposed in its first mandate, extends rates to products as diverse as stainless steel sinks, gas stoves, air conditioning evaporator serpentines, horseshoes, aluminum and hinges of steel doors.
The total value of imports in 2024 for the 289 categories of affected products amounts to 147.3 billion dollars, with almost two thirds corresponding to aluminum and a third to steel, according to data from the census office obtained through the Dataweb system of the EU International Trade Commission.
In comparison, the first two rounds of Trump punitive tariffs on Chinese industrial goods in 2018 added only 50,000 million dollars in annual imports.
Tariffs will impact more than 25,000 million dollars in imported aluminum components for cars, trucks, buses, tractors and special vehicles, as well as 15,000 million dollars in metal furniture and parts, depending on the analysis.
Canada and Mexico, the two largest sources of imports of these metals, will be the most affected. Both countries, which are the largest business partners in the US, also face 25% separate tariffs on all the Trump strategy to eradicate fentanyl traffic. However, the latter are mostly leisurely for goods that comply with the rules of origin of the treaty between Mexico, the United States and Canada (TMEC).
Steel and aluminum producers have long argued that the proliferation of exemptions and quotas weakened the effectiveness of section 232 Taxes in 2018, which initially gave a temporary impulse to the capacity of steel and aluminum production in the US.
“These are not the same steel and aluminum tariffs last time,” said Dan Ujczo, a lawyer specialized in commerce between the US and Canada. “These are precisely the products whose impact will feel consumers in stores, in the construction industry and in the automotive sector.”
UJCZO, a senior lawyer in Thompson Hine in Columbus, Ohio, said that some of their real estate clients are leaving development projects because they cannot accurately estimate the costs of the materials in the next six to 12 months due to the uncertainty generated by the tariffs.
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Trump’s objectives imposing these tariffs are strengthening the production of steel and aluminum and bringing more manufacturing and jobs to the US. This measure is part of a series of tariff actions in their first weeks in office, which will culminate on April 2 with reciprocal tariffs destined to match the tax rates of other countries and counteract their non -tariff commercial barriers.
Price increase in the horizon
However, team manufacturers in Wisconsin warn that new metal tariffs could simply raise costs, since much of the supply base for small metal components has moved abroad. Several of them are considering raising prices.
Husco, a company based in Waukesha, Wisconsin, which manufactures hydraulic components for cars and construction equipment, purchase steel nationwide but will face cost increases throughout its supply chain, especially for smaller imported parts, as mechanized steel components, according to its CEO, Austin Ramirez.
The company began to transfer part of its production outside of China after Trump imposed tariffs on Chinese industrial goods in 2018. However, this would be difficult for components with a high labor content due to salary costs in the US, Ramirez said.
“The strongest impact will be the increase in our supplies costs,” said Ramirez, adding that, for many pieces, even paying a 25% tariff would remain cheaper than establish national production or find suppliers in the US.
Agricultural machinery manufacturers will probably announce price increases in one or two weeks, since tariffs will probably raise internal steel prices, warned Kip Eideberg, director of government relations of the Association of Equipment Manufacturers.
The futures of hot rolled steel in the west have risen more than 21%, or $ 166 per ton, reaching $ 925 since Trump announced the tariff reviews.
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“If manufacturing tractors and harvesters in the US becomes 8% more expensive, part of that cost inevitably, and unfortunately, it will move to customers,” said Eideberg.
It remains to be seen if Trump’s tariffs will bring back the production of metals to EU or if they will make some national manufacturers less competitive against their global peers.
But Alan Price, a lawyer who directs the commercial practice of Wiley Rein in Washington, said they could help counteract policies such as the IMMEX program of Mexico, which allows foreign companies, including Americans, importing free components of tariffs to Mexico to assemble them in finished products destined for export to EU.
“Without a doubt, extending tariffs on these derived products closes additional gaps and reduces the appeal to transfer production outside the US,” said Price, adding that tariffs will also encourage manufacturers to use more steel and aluminum produced in the country.
Unlike fentanyl -related tariffs, Trump has not shown signs of making his position more flexible before the midnight deadline.
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The White House declined to comment on possible increases in tariff costs, arguing that they are part of the “America First” economic agenda of Trump, which seeks to rebuild the US industrial base, reduce taxes and increase energy production.
“In his second term, President Trump will use tariffs again to level the playing field for US workers and revive the US industrial power,” said White House spokesman Kush Desai, in a statement.
With Reuters information
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