in effect
This is Presidential Proclamation 10896, signed February 10, 2025, adjusting steel import tariffs under Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962 (the national-security trade law). It builds on the original 2018 proclamation that placed a 25% tariff on most imported steel, and it directs the government to cancel the special deals and exemptions that various countries had received since then and to broaden what the tariff covers.
Effective 12:01 a.m. Eastern on March 12, 2025, it ends all the alternative arrangements (exemptions, quotas, and tariff-rate quotas) that had been granted to Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, the EU countries, Japan, Mexico, South Korea, the United Kingdom, and Ukraine, so steel and steel-derivative products from those countries again face the standard 25% tariff. It also expands the 25% tariff to additional “derivative” steel products listed in the proclamation’s Annex I, starting the same date, though products made abroad from steel that was melted and poured in the United States are exempt. Separately, and effective immediately on the signing date, it shuts down the “product exclusion” process, meaning companies can no longer apply to have specific steel products spared from the tariff. Going forward, steel of any kind from any country can still be imported in any quantity, but the added tariff must be paid on entry.
Foreign steel producers and exporters in the named countries lose their tariff-free or reduced-tariff access to the U.S. market, and U.S. companies that import steel or steel-derivative parts will pay the 25% tariff and can no longer seek product-specific exclusions. Domestic U.S. steel producers are the intended beneficiaries, as the stated aim is to raise their production and capacity-utilization levels. The Commerce Department is tasked with publishing the implementing details (including Annex I) and monitoring the results.