For Immediate Release: March 12, 2025
Washington, D.C. — The Trump administration’s across-the-board 25% tariffs on steel, steel derivative products, and aluminum imports went into effect on Wednesday.
“We support strengthening the steel and aluminum tariffs to ensure their efficacy in boosting capacity utilization and incentivizing companies to increase their output, make new investments, and hire workers,” Alliance for American Manufacturing (AAM) President Scott Paul said. “Including steel derivatives makes a lot of sense. This addition will ensure that importers can’t game the system and American companies that make these products have a level playing field.”
In 2018, AAM supported the imposition of 25% tariffs on steel imports and 10% tariffs on aluminum imports. The measures came at the conclusion of a Section 232 investigation that found that steel and aluminum imports had increased to such a rate that it harmed national security.
The 2018 tariffs were urgently needed to respond to decades of trade cheating in critical U.S. industries and were effective in spurring new investments and innovation in domestic mills. Over time, however, these measures were diluted by product and country exclusions. These exemptions brought the volume of imports covered by tariffs to well under 50% during most months.
“Shifting trade patterns hint at underhanded tariff evasion,” Paul said. “Keeping steel and aluminum tariffs strong is critical to achieving the industry stability upon which our nation depends.”
Mexican steel imports surged from 7.77 million metric tonnes in 2020 to 9.4 million metric tonnes in 2024.
Paul is available for interviews.