Trump decides on steep tariffs on steel and aluminum imports A White House official said an announcement was not planned, but Treasury Department officials had been bracing for its effect on markets.

President Donald Trump on Thursday ignited a possible trade war by announcing a decision to impose tariffs of 25 percent on steel imports and 10 percent on aluminum to protect both industries from unfairly traded imports that the Commerce Department has determined pose a threat to national security.

"It'll be 25 percent for steel. It will be 10 percent for aluminum. It'll be for a long period of time," Trump said at a listening session with steel and aluminum industry executives at the White House. "We'll be signing it next week. And you'll have protection."


The announcement, which is likely to be met with outrage and retaliation from countries around the world, followed a fierce debate within the administration about whether to make an announcement Thursday, according to people briefed on the matter. New tariffs on steel and aluminum imports could lead to a tit-for-tat trade fight with China, the European Union and other major world trade powers.

The internal debate made for a hectic morning at the White House, as administration officials were trying to figure out what exactly Trump was planning to say at the meeting — and some in the West Wing were strongly encouraging the president not to announce the planned tariffs.

Senior Treasury Department officials on Thursday morning were prepared for Trump to announce major tariffs and were deeply worried about market reaction.

Trump and Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross were joined at the listening session by chief of staff John Kelly; Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin; U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer; National Economic Council Director Gary Cohn; White House adviser Jared Kushner; Deputy White House Staff Secretary Derek Lyons; White House trade adviser Peter Navarro; White House counsel Don McGahn; and domestic policy adviser Stephen Miller.

Cohn has been arguing vociferously behind the scenes against the tariffs. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, national security adviser H.R. McMaster and Defense Secretary Jim Mattis have all also raised concerns about the planned actions, arguing that they could damage the United States' relationship with crucial allies.

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But Trump has long been dead-set on imposing tariffs, and he has the support of the trade hawks in his administration, including Navarro, Lighthizer and Ross. The debate within the administration has raged for months and pitted Trump's top aides against one another.

Trump's final decision marks the culmination of a nearly 11-month investigation into whether imports of steel and aluminum posed a threat to U.S. national security.

Shortly before he resigned amid domestic abuse allegations, White House staff secretary Rob Porter got into a heated argument about the tariffs with Navarro in the Oval Office in front of the president, according to a person familiar with the issue.

Cohn and Porter had worked together for months to try to postpone, kill or narrow the scope of the tariffs. Porter organized weekly trade meetings at the White House to discuss the tariffs and other main issues in a bid to give the debate a more formal structure.

But Porter's resignation removed a fierce opponent of the tariffs from the West Wing and revived the chaotic policy review process that defined the early weeks of Trump's presidency.

Foreign trading partners have already promised swift retribution if they are caught in any major tariff action.

EU trade chief Cecilia Malmström warned earlier this week that the 28-nation trading bloc, a major producer of steel, was discussing different options. “If he hits hard, we will have to take countermeasures,” the commissioner said after arriving at a meeting of EU trade ministers this week.

Trump ordered the Commerce Department to initiate investigations last April examining whether the imports posed a threat to national security. The probes were invoked under the rarely used Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962.

Commerce released the findings of those investigations and its recommendations earlier in February, finding that imports of the metals did endanger national security.

Ross made three recommendations for both steel and aluminum imports. However, Trump could ignore that advice and choose his own options.

For steel, the first option is the 24 percent tariff on all imports. The second would exclude most NATO allies, while imposing a tariff of 53 percent on imports from a group of 12 countries: Brazil, China, Costa Rica, Egypt, India, Malaysia, Russia, South Africa, South Korea, Thailand, Turkey and Vietnam. In addition, future imports from those countries would be limited to the amount they exported to the United States in 2017.

The third steel option would not impose any tariffs, but would limit shipments from around the world to 63 percent of each country's 2017 exports to the United States.

The three recommended options for curbing aluminum imports follow a similar pattern: a 7.7 percent tariff on aluminum exports from all countries; a 23.7 percent tariff on all aluminum products from China, Russia, Venezuela and Vietnam as well as a quota at 100 percent of their 2017 shipment levels; or a universal quota that would cap imports from all countries at 86.7 percent of their 2017 exports to the U.S.

Mattis weighed in later with his own memo, where he agreed with the findings of the investigations. But the Defense chief cautioned against taking action that could alienate allies.

"DoD continues to be concerned about the negative impact on our key allies regarding the recommended options within the report," Mattis said in the memo.

Mattis also argued that the Defense Department did not believe it was at risk of not being able to get enough steel or aluminum for defense purposes, because the U.S. military's demand for those products is only about 3 percent of U.S. production.

In his memo, Mattis stated a preference for "targeted tariffs" that would focus on certain countries, rather than a global tariff or quota. He also urged the administration to make clear to domestic steel companies and labor leaders that "these tariffs and quotas are conditional," and suggest to them that some action is needed on their part to respond to foreign competition.

Chinese President Xi Jinping’s top economic adviser Liu He is expected at the White House on Thursday for a separate meeting with Cohn, Lighthizer and Mnuchin. China has said it would act to protect its economic interests if hit by steel and aluminum tariffs, although U.S. anti-dumping and countervailing duties on its steel exports have already significantly reduced its shipments to the United States.

Doug Palmer, Ben White and Lorraine Woellert contributed to this report.

