Donald Trump pledges sweeping tariffs on steel, semiconductors and other imports

WASHINGTON ― President Donald Trump said Monday he plans to impose sweeping tariffs on steel, aluminum and copper imported to the U.S. as well as goods such as computer chips, semiconductors and pharmaceuticals in a push to increase U.S. production of the products.

Trump announced the moves during remarks at a congressional Republican treat at the Trump National Doral hotel and golf club in Miami.

"It's time for the United States to return to the system that made us richer and more powerful than ever before," Trump said, comparing his approach to stiff tariffs pushed more than a century ago by former President William McKinley in the last 1890s.

Economists warn tariffs, which are taxes on foreign imports, can lead to higher prices for consumers. Trump campaigned on promising to bring down inflation. But one week into his second term, Trump has shown he plans to use tariffs ‒ a hallmark of his first term ‒ as a tool to achieve both his foreign policy aims and domestic agenda.

Trump said he will place tariffs on steel, copper and aluminum imports "and things that we need for our military."

"We have to bring production back to our country," Trump said. "You know, there was a time when we made one ship a day. And now we can't build a ship. We don't know what the hell we're doing. It's all gone to other locations and other lands."

Trump later said he hasn't settled on a figure for the tariffs on steel and other metals. "It'll be enough to protect our country," Trump told reporters on Air Force One Monday night.

Trump also signaled he still plans to pursue a baseline universal tariff for all imports ‒ something he talked about during the 2024 presidential campaign. Trump's treasury secretary, Scott Bessant, is pushing a universal 2.5% universal tariff, the Financial Times reported, that could eventually reach the 20% tariffs Trump pledged on the campaign trail.

Trump said he wants the universal tariff rate to be "much bigger" than 2.5%.

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Trump told Republicans at the retreat "in the very near future" his administration will place tariffs on computer chips, semiconductors and pharmaceuticals "to return production of these essential goods to the United States of America."

"They left us, and they went to Taiwan, which is about 98% of the chip business, by the way," Trump said. "And we want them to come back, and we don't want to give them billions of dollars, like this ridiculous program that Biden has."

Trump was referring to efforts made by former President Joe Biden's administration to increase the domestic production of semiconductors by offering financial incentives to companies that produce in the U.S. The CHIPS and Science Act, signed by Biden in 2022, included $53 billion in subsidies for microchip companies to try to catch up to China in semiconductor manufacturing.

Trump has also promised blanket 25% tariffs on goods from Mexico and Canada by Feb. 1, citing illegal migration and drugs he claims are flowing across their borders with the U.S. Trump has said he will impose 10% tariffs on goods from China on tops of Chinese tariffs already in place.

During a back-and-forth feud Sunday over Trump's deportations of migrants, Trump announced new tariffs and on Colombia after its president, Gustavo Petro, refused to accept two military deportation planes of Colombian migrants. Trump later backed off from the tariff threat after Petro agreed to accept the flights under conditions that satisfied the Trump administration.

(This story has been updated with additional information.)

Reach Joey Garrison on X @joeygarrison.