• President Donald Trump will announce his new tariffs on steel and aluminum at the White House.
  • The tariffs will kick in in 15 days.
  • Canada and Mexico will be exempt and other countries can apply for exemptions.

President Donald Trump on Thursday rolled out his new tariffs on steel and aluminum at the White House, kicking off what some economists fear could be a new protectionist shift for the administration.

“The workers who poured their souls into building this great nation were betrayed. But that betrayal is now over,” Trump said.

Republicans, US allies, economists, and investors have all raised concerns about the economic impact of the tariffs amid concern it could lead to a trade war.

A senior administration official dismissed these concerns on Thursday.

"There's been a lot of, in my judgment, hair-on-fire rhetoric on the television from the lobbyists and the politicians and the swamp creatures within the perimeter of the Beltway and in my judgment this is all fake news," the official said.

The official said concerns over increased prices for consumers due to the higher steel and aluminum costs were overblown and no jobs will be lost at downstream manufacturers that rely on the metals.

Trump is imposing the tariffs on national security grounds using an obscure bit of trade law. The administration argues that the US steel industry's struggles could leave the country exposed if imports are cut off due to a geopolitical conflict.

Allies such as Canada and the European Union called this reasoning into question given their close political ties to the US. The senior administration official disagreed.

"The rationale from a national security, an economic security point of view is unassailable and that is the underlying thing," the official said.

The rollout has been rife with confusion and dissension in the White House. Details of the tariffs have been changing throughout the week, but here's what the tariffs include, according to the official:

  • Steel imports will be hit with a 25% tariff, aluminum with a 10% tariff.
  • The measure will kick in 15 days from Thursday - on March 23.
  • Canada and Mexico will be exempt indefinitely. Both countries had warned of retaliatory measures if they were not exempt. So far, the Trump administration has loosely tied the exemptions to negotiations over the North American Free Trade Agreement and warned that a failure to renegotiate the agreement could end the special treatment.
  • Other countries can be exempt if the nations present an alternative way to address the national security threat of their exports.