Trump says he will announce raft of new trade tariffs

US President Donald Trump

President Donald Trump has said he will announce a 25% import tax on all steel and aluminium entering the US, a move that will have the biggest impact in Canada.

Trump also said that there would be an announcement later in the week about reciprocal tariffs on all countries that tax imports from the US, but he did not specify which nations would be targeted, or if there would be any exemptions.

"If they charge us, we charge them," Trump said.

He told reporters of his plans while traveling from his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida to the Super Bowl in New Orleans on Sunday.

Canada and Mexico are two of the US's biggest steel trading partners, and Canada is the biggest supplier of aluminium metal into the US.

During his first term, Trump put tariffs of 25% on steel imports and 10% on aluminium imports from Canada, Mexico and the European Union.

But the US reached a deal a year later with Canada and Mexico to end those tariffs, although the EU import taxes remained in place until 2021.

Speaking aboard Air Force One, Trump said on Monday he would announce tariffs on "everybody" for steel and aluminium.

"Any steel coming into the United States is going to have a 25% tariff," he said.

In response, Doug Ford, the premier of the province of Ontario, accused Trump of "shifting goalposts and constant chaos, putting our economy at risk" in an online post. Canada's steel production is concentrated in Ontario.

Trump's comments mark another major escalation in Trump's trade policy, which has threatened a trade war with multiple countries. – BBC News