President Donald Trump has issued a series of proclamations imposing duties on imports of steel and aluminum products. The first proclamation, “Adjusting Imports of Steel Into the United States” (Steel Proclamation), was issued on February 10, 2025, and the second, “Adjusting Imports of Aluminum Into the United States” (Aluminum Proclamation), was released on February 11, 2025 (collectively, “the Proclamations”).
As a result of the Proclamations, covered steel and aluminum products imported into the U.S. will face additional duties of 25% as of March 12, 2025.
The Proclamations revive orders that were put in place starting in 2018, when President Trump imposed additional duties of 25% on steel imports and 10% on aluminum imports pursuant to Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962 (Section 232). These orders — Proclamation 9704, Proclamation 9705 and Proclamation 9980 — prompted an explosion of retaliatory duties by the major steel- and aluminum-producing countries and disputes before the World Trade Organization (WTO).
Beginning in 2019, the U.S. entered into a series of agreements with each of these countries, which provided relief from the steel and aluminum tariffs — often in the form of a tariff rate quota, which exempts imports from a tariff up to a quota amount. In exchange, these countries suspended their retaliatory duties against the U.S.
This fragile peace held until President Trump issued the Proclamations and purported to terminate these agreements. In the Aluminum Proclamation, he also modified the original order to increase the tariff rate from 10% to 25%. If the U.S. and its trading partners are unable to secure new agreements by March 12, 2025, the 25% tariffs will go into effect.
Many U.S. trading partners likely will respond by imposing retaliatory duties on U.S. products.
Key Takeaways
As of March 12, 2025, the Proclamations:
- Terminate Section 232 duty tariff relief and flexibilities for covered steel and aluminum products from Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, European Union countries, Japan, Mexico, South Korea, Ukraine and the United Kingdom.
- Impose 25% ad valorem duties on steel and steel derivative articles from all countries.
- Impose 25% ad valorem duties on aluminum and aluminum derivative articles from all countries except Russia (whose aluminum is prohibited from entering the U.S.).
- Terminate the Section 232 product exclusion process such that no new exclusions can be requested, but maintain existing exclusions until their expiration date.
- Eliminate the use of drawback duty claims for goods covered by the Proclamations.
The Proclamations also:
- Instruct the Department of Commerce to establish, within 90 days of the Proclamations, a process for covering additional derivative steel articles.
- Instruct U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) to prioritize reviews of the classification of imported steel articles and derivative steel articles, as well as imported aluminum articles and derivative aluminum articles, and to assess monetary penalties in the maximum amount permitted by law without consideration of any mitigating factors, if it finds that misclassification resulting in nonpayment of duties has occurred.
Termination of Past Exemptions
The Proclamations terminate exemptions that were previously provided to Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, EU countries, Japan, Mexico, South Korea, Ukraine and the U.K. These exemptions will be ineffective beginning 12:01 a.m. EDT on March 12, 2025. After this effective date, imports of specified steel articles and derivative steel articles will be subject to the additional ad valorem tariffs listed in Proclamation 9705 and Proclamation 9980.
Imports of specified aluminum articles and derivative aluminum articles will also be subject to the additional ad valorem tariffs listed in Proclamation 9704 and Proclamation 9980.
The Proclamations specifically revise previous proclamations and state that:
- Proclamations 9704 and 9705 are now amended to state that steel article imports covered by heading 9903.80.01 and aluminum articles covered by heading 9903.85.01 in Subchapter III of Chapter 99 of the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States (HTSUS) will be subject to 25% ad valorem duties.
- Proclamation 9980 is revised to state that imports of derivative aluminum and steel articles specified in Annex I will be subject to additional 25% ad valorem duties.
These duties will apply in addition to other duties, such as duties imposed under Section 301 or the Trade Act of 1974, antidumping and countervailing duties, and the additional duties imposed on Chinese imports pursuant to President Trump’s executive order of February 3, 2025.
Process for Including Additional Derivative Steel and Aluminum Items
Under the Proclamations, Commerce has 90 days from the effective date to put in place a system by which new derivative steel and aluminum articles can be added to the scope of the tariff orders.
Commerce must create a mechanism whereby private parties can petition it to include specific derivative items within the scope of the orders. The petition must be based on allegations that these imports are increasing and either threaten national security or otherwise undermine the objectives set out in Commerce’s January 11, 2018, and January 17, 2018, reports or any proclamation issued in connection with those reports.
Notably, duties will not apply to derivative steel articles processed in another country from steel articles that were melted and poured in the U.S., or to derivative aluminum articles processed in another country from aluminum articles that were smelted and cast in the U.S.
End of Exclusion Process
The Proclamations also eliminate the Section 232 exclusion process that previously allowed Commerce to exempt certain articles and derivative articles from additional duties. Under this mechanism, exclusions could be granted if the article was determined to not be produced in the U.S. in a sufficient and reasonably available amount or of a satisfactory quality, or if certain national security considerations favored the elimination of the duties.
As of the date of the Proclamations, Commerce will no longer consider any product exclusion requests or renew any product exclusion requests. Any such requests that have already been granted will remain effective through their expiration date or until the excluded product volume is imported, whichever occurs first. All existing general approved exclusions will terminate on March 12, 2025.
USMCA Side Letters
On November 30, 2018, as part of the agreement between the U.S., Mexico and Canada (USMCA), Canada and Mexico executed side letters with the U.S. concerning Section 232 tariffs. The letters prohibit the U.S. from applying such tariffs to goods of Canadian or Mexican origin for “at least 60 days after imposition of a measure.”
Additionally, these side letters specify that during this time, the U.S. and Canada or the U.S. and Mexico will negotiate “an appropriate outcome based on industry dynamics and historical trading patterns.”
At this point, there are no indications that the U.S. intends to grant Canada or Mexico this 60-day window.
See the Executive Briefing publication
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