Starting tomorrow, President Trump plans to impose a 25% tax on all imported steel and aluminum. He briefly threatened even higher tariffs - 50% on metal coming from Canada. This is the latest escalation in the president's trade war. Now, Trump also taxed imported steel and aluminum during his first term in office, but as NPR's Scott Horsley reports, those tariffs did not provide the boost to domestic manufacturers that the president promised.
SCOTT HORSLEY, BYLINE: Tariffs have the potential to raise prices, which is politically risky in a country where voters are already scarred by inflation. So Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick offered some reassurance on Sunday's "Meet The Press."
(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "MEET THE PRESS")
HOWARD LUTNICK: Some products that are made foreign might be more expensive, but American products will get cheaper, and that's the point.
HORSLEY: But that's not how it turned out the last time Trump imposed taxes on imported steel and aluminum. When the price of imports went up, many domestic steel and aluminum makers raised their own prices to match.
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