Plus, Kendrick Lamar’s Super Bowl show.
Trump’s new tariffs would hit metals imports
President Trump was poised to move forward with sweeping 25 percent tariffs on foreign steel and aluminum that are likely to rankle Canada and Mexico, which supply the bulk of U.S. metal imports.
The two countries could also incite retaliation on U.S. exports. Trump said on Sunday that he would make a formal announcement about the tariffs on Monday.
His decision took leaders in Canada and Mexico by surprise. A North American trade war had been averted at the last moment last month when deals were reached with Trump for a 30-day postponement of tariffs.
My colleague Ana Swanson, who covers trade, said the new tariffs “will probably spark new trade fights with American allies.”
“The interesting thing about steel and aluminum tariffs is they do really help domestic metal makers,” she said. “But there’s a big trade-off because they increase costs for other businesses that use steel and aluminum. And there a lot of those — makers of cars, machinery, planes and food packaging come to mind.”
Context: Trump imposed a 25 percent tariff on metals in his first term. Studies showed that the move hurt the broader economy as prices went up for so many other industries.