President Trump signed another slew of executive orders on Monday to kick off his fourth week in office, including one that imposes a 25% tariff on foreign steel imports.
Immediately after signing his executive order placing tariffs on steel imports, the President signed another on aluminum imports.
Once again, he teased Canada becoming the 51st state.”We don’t need it [steel] from another country, as an example, Canada,” President Trump said after signing his first order on steel tariffs. “That’s why Canada should be our 51st state.”
As The Gateway Pundit reported, President Trump also signed an executive order Monday titled “Ending Procurement and Forced Use of Paper Straws,” which encourages the government and private businesses to end the practice of favoring paper drinking straws over plastic straws.
In the first three weeks of his second term, President Trump signed more than 50 executive orders, with Monday’s orders pushing that number over 60.
The new tariffs on steel and aluminum come after President Trump hosted Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba at the White House on Friday and announced an investment by Japan’s Nippon Steel Corp. in American steelmaker U.S. Steel Corp. When asked about tariffs on Japan last week, President Trump said, “We didn’t discuss tariffs so much” and noted that Japan and the U.S. would be entering into additional agreements on U.S. liquid natural gas exports to reduce the trade deficit.
Watch:
Trump: As America welcomes new foreign investment, we also want to ensure that companies build their products in factories here in America, not simply buy the assets that we have. And Japan is going to be opening up auto plants. New auto plants are being built currently. As we speak, they’ve just been started. Toyota is one. [Nippon] is going to be doing something very exciting about U.S. Steel. They’ll be looking at an investment rather than a purchase. U.S. Steel is a very important company to us. It was the greatest company in the world for 15 years many years ago, 80 years ago, and we didn’t want to see that leave, and it wouldn’t actually leave, but the concept, psychologically not good. So, they’ve agreed to invest heavily in U.S. Steel, as opposed to own it, and that sounds very exciting. And we’ll meet with [Nippon] next week, the head of [Nippon], a very great company, and they’ll work out the details; I’ll help. I’ll be there to mediate and arbitrate.
When asked if Japan would retaliate to hypothetical U.S. tariffs on Japanese imports, Ishiba said, “I am unable to respond to a theoretical question. That’s the official answer that we have.” President Trump, laughing, added, “That’s a very good answer… He knows what he’s doing.”
President Trump’s new “Adjusting Imports of Steel into The United States” and “Adjusting Imports of Aluminum into The United States” executive orders are nearly identical, levying 25% ad valoreum tariffs on the two commodities.
After signing the orders, he told reporters, “U.S. Steel will now be a very valuable company.”
“This is the beginning of making America rich again,” President Trump said as he signed the order on steel tariffs.
Secretary of Commerce Nominee Howard Lutnick added that President Trump’s tariffs on steel imports in his first term “added 120,000 jobs, and since that time, it’s been picked away, and nicked away, and excluded away, and we’ve lost 107,000 jobs.”
“These are steelworkers in America, and now you’re going to bring them back. You’re going to bring those 120,000 jobs back to America. You are the President who’s standing up for the American steel worker, and I am just tremendously impressed and delighted to stand next to you,” Lutnick told the President.
President Trump also said these tariffs are “the first of many,” proposing additional tariffs on cars, chips, drugs, and pharmaceuticals. He told the reporters that the days of countries prohibiting us from selling cars in their country or charging 100% tariffs are over.
Responding to a question about American consumers fearing price increases, Trump said, “You’re going to ultimately have a price reduction because they’re going to make their steel here. There’s not going to be any tariff. These foreign companies will move to the United States, will make their steel and aluminum in the United States. Ultimately, it will be cheaper, but we’ll also have jobs, many, many more jobs.”
“We’re the piggy bank, but if we don’t do this, we won’t be the piggy bank for long. We won’t be much of a country,” Trump told the reporters.
WATCH:
Trump: Essentially, we’re— this is another way of saying we’re doing a 25% tariff on steel and aluminum. So, the failed American trade policies have led our once-incredible United States steel and aluminum industries once-incredible. It’s once-incredible, not now. But, they’re not bad. I saved them because of my first term; totally saved them. If I didn’t do what I did, I put massive tariffs, not the highest level, but pretty, pretty massive tariffs.
We took in a lot of money, and we took in a lot of jobs, but we were being pummeled by both friend and foe alike. Our nation requires steel and aluminum to be made in America, not in foreign lands. We need to create in order to protect our country’s future resurgence of U.S. manufacturing and production, the likes of which has not been seen for many decades. It’s time for our great industries to come back to America. I want ’em to back to America. This is the first of many, and you know what I mean by that. We’re going to be doing others on other subjects, topics. Protecting our steel and aluminum industries is a must, and today I’m simplifying our tariffs on steel and aluminum so that everyone can understand exactly what it means. It’s 25% without exceptions or exemptions. And that’s all countries, no matter where it comes from, all countries. If made in the United States, however, United States of America, there is no tariff, zero. So, if it’s made in the United States, there is no tariff; all you have to do is make it in the United States.
We don’t need it from another country, as an example, Canada. If we make it in the United States, we don’t need it to be made in Canada. We’ll have the jobs. That’s why Canada should be our 51st state. We’ll bring back industries, and we’ll bring back our jobs, and we’ll make America industry great again. So, essentially, we’re putting on a 25% tariff, without exception, on all aluminum and all steel, and it’s going to mean a lot of businesses are going to be opening in the United States. Now, we’re going to be meeting over the next four week period, maybe on a weekly basis, and maybe we’ll do a couple of them at different times, and maybe together.
But, we’ll be talking about other subjects, like cars. We’ll be talking about drugs and pharmaceuticals. We’ll be discussing chips, and we’re going to be doing some other things in addition to that, all which will bring in a lot of jobs into our country. Cars is going to be a very big one and a very important one, and America’s going to be stronger than it ever was before.
The post WATCH: President Trump Imposes 25% Tariffs on ALL Foreign Steel and Aluminum Imports, Doubles Down on Canada Statehood: “Canada Should be Our 51st State” if They Can’t Keep Up appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.