Trump announces 25% tariffs on steel and aluminium

Facebook
Twitter
LinkedIn
Reddit
Email
The rule increases the previous 10% tariff and will remove exemptions for countries or specific products. Image: Nextracker.

US president Donald Trump has introduced a flat 25% tariff on all steel and aluminium imports to the US in a move which aims to increase the “national security of the United States”.

The rule increases the previous 10% tariff and will remove exemptions for countries or specific products when it comes into effect in March.

This article requires Premium SubscriptionBasic (FREE) Subscription

Unlock unlimited access for 12 whole months of distinctive global analysis

Photovoltaics International is now included.

  • Regular insight and analysis of the industry’s biggest developments
  • In-depth interviews with the industry’s leading figures
  • Unlimited digital access to the PV Tech Power journal catalogue
  • Unlimited digital access to the Photovoltaics International journal catalogue
  • Access to more than 1,000 technical papers
  • Discounts on Solar Media’s portfolio of events, in-person and virtual

Or continue reading this article for free

The US currently gets the bulk of its steel and aluminium imports from Canada and Mexico. On average, roughly 2 million metric tonnes of steel and 0.45 million metric tonnes of aluminium entered the US every month over the last year.

Of that average monthly figure, 0.7 million tonnes of steel and 0.25 million tonnes of aluminium came from Mexico and Canada, according to the US International Trade Administration (the figures do not break it down by individual country).

The US also receives significant amounts of steel imports from European Union countries.

In his steel tariff proclamation, Trump said the US Secretary of Commerce “advised me of his opinion that steel articles are being imported into the US in such quantities and under such circumstances as to threaten to impair the national security of the US.”

These measures could further enflame US trade relations with its closest neighbours after the president’s announcement of tariffs on Mexico and Canada was postponed following discussions between the countries’ leaders.

The US solar industry uses steel for solar tracker and racking manufacturing and a number of US companies have established supply deals with US steel producers. Tracker manufacturer Nextracker, in particular, has established US manufacturing bases in partnership with steel producers, which could potentially insulate it from future price changes.

Aluminium is the primary material used for solar module frames. US annual nameplate module production capacity has reached 50GW, according to data from trade association the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) released last week. With some exceptions, like steel module frame producer Origami Solar, the majority of these modules use aluminium frames.

As with many of Donald Trump’s early policy changes, the long-term impact of these tariffs on the solar industry and on the US more broadly remains to be seen.

The PV manufacturing industry downplayed the impacts of Trump’s initial tariffs on Mexico, Canada and China (premium access) though there were some warnings of procurement challenges ahead.

Since the metal tariff announcement, Reuters has reported that US steel producers’ stock prices have risen and overseas peers’ stock has fallen.

2 September 2025
Mexico City, Mexico
Intersolar Mexico is the leading platform for technology trends and B2B networking in Mexico's solar market. It focuses on photovoltaics, solar heating and cooling technologies, and energy storage. Together with the co-located events The GREEN Expo® and Aquatech Mexico, it has solidified its position as the largest gathering of professionals in the renewable energy and cleantech industry in Mexico since the debut in 2019. In 2024, the events hosted more than 400 exhibitors as well as 10,000 visitors and 12,000 industry professionals (total attendance). The sixth edition of Intersolar Mexico will take place from September 2 to 4, 2025 at the Citibanamex Center, in Mexico City.
7 October 2025
San Francisco Bay Area, USA
PV Tech has been running an annual PV CellTech Conference since 2016. PV CellTech USA, on 7-8 October 2025 is our third PV CellTech conference dedicated to the U.S. manufacturing sector. The events in 2023 and 2024 were a sell out success and 2025 will once again gather the key stakeholders from PV manufacturing, equipment/materials, policy-making and strategy, capital equipment investment and all interested downstream channels and third-party entities. The goal is simple: to map out PV manufacturing in the U.S. out to 2030 and beyond.
21 October 2025
New York, USA
Returning for its 12th edition, Solar and Storage Finance USA Summit remains the annual event where decision-makers at the forefront of solar and storage projects across the United States and capital converge. Featuring the most active solar and storage transactors, join us for a packed two-days of deal-making, learning and networking.
25 November 2025
Warsaw, Poland
Large Scale Solar Central and Eastern Europe continues to be the place to leverage a network that has been made over more than 10 years, to build critical partnerships to develop solar projects throughout the region.
16 June 2026
Napa, USA
PV Tech has been running PV ModuleTech Conferences since 2017. PV ModuleTech USA, on 16-17 June 2026, will be our fifth PV ModulelTech conference dedicated to the U.S. utility scale solar sector. The event will gather the key stakeholders from solar developers, solar asset owners and investors, PV manufacturing, policy-making and and all interested downstream channels and third-party entities. The goal is simple: to map out the PV module supply channels to the U.S. out to 2027 and beyond.

Read Next

June 30, 2025
Australian module manufacturer Tindo Solar has secured a 30MW solar module supply agreement to power Australia's first "net zero pipeline”.
June 27, 2025
Renewables investment platform Nexwell Power has signed a round of power purchase agreements (PPAs) with “one of the largest” US tech companies for solar PV capacity to be built in Spain.
Premium
June 27, 2025
PV Talk: '2024 was a transformational year in terms of energy policy,' says Monika Paplaczyk ahead of this year's Clean Power 2030 Summits.
June 26, 2025
A round-up of news from the US solar sector this week, including Akuo, Meta and RWE.
June 26, 2025
A group of minority shareholders in Norwegian silicon firm REC Silicon has triggered an investigation into the circumstances surrounding the closure of the company’s US polysilicon production site.
June 26, 2025
Nextracker will supply solar tracker systems to a 550MW solar PV project in the Greek province of Western Macedonia, owned by Greek renewables developer PPC Renewables.

Subscribe to Newsletter

Upcoming Events

Upcoming Webinars
June 30, 2025
10am PST / 6pm BST
Solar Media Events
July 1, 2025
London, UK
Solar Media Events
July 1, 2025
London, UK
Media Partners, Solar Media Events
July 2, 2025
Bangkok, Thailand
Media Partners, Solar Media Events
September 2, 2025
Mexico City, Mexico