President Donald Trump has announced a 25% tariff on all steel and aluminum imports into the United States, on Monday, February 10th. Trump also said that later in the week there will be more announcements on reciprocal tariffs on all country’s that tax imports from the U.S.

According to a BBC article, Trump stated ” ‘If they charge us, we charge them,’ Trump said”(Wendling, Silva, and Labiak, Febuary 10th). He did not specify how expansive the new tariffs would be or when they would go into effect. It wasn’t clear if the new steel and aluminum tariffs would be placed on top of the existing imports from countries like China.

Last week Trump imposed a 10% tariff on all Chinese imported into the U.S. along with the existing tariffs already in place. In result of the tariffs being in place Tuesday, China retaliated and placed a tariff on brands of chips and metals.

Even though the U.S. is not as manufacturing-focused as it once was, it still consumes tens of millions of  aluminum and steel each year , feeding industry’s such as auto-making, aerospace, oil production, construction, and infrastructure, including roads and bridges. Placing these tariffs would cause increase in the production of those industries, increasing the cost of steel, and leading steel and aluminum makers to raise their prices due to reduced competition.