Commerce Department Expands Steel, Aluminum Tariffs to More Products

Non-steel and non-aluminum content will be subject to reciprocal tariff rates the U.S. government has imposed on certain countries, the department stated.

Rolls of steel are seen during a rally at U.S. Steel–Irvin Works in the Pittsburgh suburb of West Mifflin, Pa., on May 30, 2025. Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images

The Commerce Department on Aug. 15 added hundreds of derivative products that will be subject to the 50 percent tariffs President Donald Trump has imposed on steel and aluminum imports.

The department’s Bureau of Industry and Security stated that it was adding 407 Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States codes to the list of steel or aluminum derivative products.

Tariffs on the steel and aluminum derivative products will apply to items entered or withdrawn from warehouse for consumption starting Aug. 18, according to the bureau’s Federal Register notice.

Another 60 Harmonized Tariff Schedule codes were not added to the list, as they remain subject to ongoing trade investigation, the bureau stated.

It also stated that non-steel and non-aluminum content will be subject to reciprocal tariff rates that the U.S. government has imposed on certain countries and other applicable tariffs.

Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One on Aug. 15 that he will be setting tariffs on steel and semiconductor imports.

“I'll be setting tariffs next week and the week after on steel and on, I would say, chips,” the president said, although he gave no details on the tariff rates.

“I’m going to have a rate that is going to be lower at the beginning that gives them a chance to come in and build, and very high after a certain period of time.”

In June, Trump doubled the 25 percent levies he had imposed earlier in 2025 on steel and aluminum imports to 50 percent in an effort to boost domestic production.

In his proclamation, the president stated that he believes that the increased tariffs will “effectively counter foreign countries that continue to offload low-priced, excess steel and aluminum in the United States market and thereby undercut the competitiveness of the United States steel and aluminum industries.”

Trump in April imposed a 10 percent baseline tariff on nearly all U.S. trading partners, along with reciprocal tariffs that vary depending on their trade barriers with the United States, in order to address trade deficits. He later implemented a 90-day pause on the reciprocal tariffs before extending the reprieve to Aug. 1 to allow time for negotiations.

On July 31, he signed an executive order imposing reciprocal tariffs of between 10 percent and 41 percent on more than 60 U.S. trading partners. The new tariff rates, which took effect on Aug. 7, were determined for each nation based on whether it had reached an agreement with the United States, as well as the nature of the agreement.

In his order, Trump said some trading partners have agreed to or are close to making “meaningful trade and security commitments with the United States,” while others have proposed terms that he thinks do not adequately address trade imbalances or “align sufficiently with the United States on economic and national-security matters.”