Trump tells American steelmakers that he would double tariffs on imported steel and aluminum to 50%

Donald Trump has launched a new escalation of the trade war, saying that he would double tariffs on steel and aluminum imports - from 25 to 50 percent.

According to the Associated Press, the US President promised to build a tariff "fence" around domestic metal production.

"We are going to be imposing a 25% increase. We’re going to bring it from 25% to 50%, the tariffs on steel into the United States of America, which will even further secure the steel industry in the United States. Nobody’s going to get around that. At 25% they can sorta get over that fence,” Trump said. “At 50% nobody’s getting over that fence," Trump said.

Later, Trump wrote on his social network Truth that the new tariffs would take effect on June 4.

In March, Trump imposed 25 percent tariffs on steel and aluminum imports, one of the first blows in his global trade war.

“So much for tariffs being just bluster and a bargaining tool. U.S. trading partners are clearly going to face monumental challenges in appeasing Trump and getting him to back off from using tariffs as a broad tool to influence their policies,” said Eswar Prasad, an economist at Cornell University.

At the same time, representatives of the Canadian steel industry, the largest source of American imports, condemned Trump’s move.

"Unwinding the efficient, competitive and reliable cross-border supply chains like we have in steel and aluminum comes at a great cost to both countries," Candace Laing, president of the chamber, said in a statement.