WASHINGTON — US President Donald Trump substantially raised tariffs on steel and aluminum imports on Monday to a flat 25% “without exceptions or exemptions” in a move he hopes will aid the struggling industries in the United States but which also risks sparking a multi-front trade war.

Mr. Trump signed proclamations raising the US tariff rate on aluminum to 25% from his previous 10% rate and eliminating country exceptions and quota deals as well as hundreds of thousands of product-specific tariff exclusions for both metals. A White House official confirmed the measures would take effect on March 4.

The tariffs will apply to millions of tons of steel and aluminum imports from Canada, Brazil, Mexico, South Korea and other countries that had been entering the US duty free under the carve-outs.

The move will simplify tariffs on the metals “so that everyone can understand exactly what it means,” Mr. Trump told reporters. “It’s 25% without exceptions or exemptions. That’s all countries, no matter where it comes from, all countries.”

Mr. Trump later said he would give “great consideration” to Australia’s request for an exemption to the steel tariffs due to that country’s trade deficit with the US.

The proclamations were extensions of Mr. Trump’s 2018 Section 232 tariffs to protect domestic steel and aluminum makers on national security grounds. A White House official said the exemptions had eroded the effectiveness of these measures.

Mr. Trump also will impose a new North American standard requiring steel imports to be “melted and poured” and aluminum to be “smelted and cast” within the region to curb US imports of minimally processed Chinese and Russian metals that circumvent other tariffs.

The action also extends the tariffs to downstream products that use foreign-made steel, including fabricated structural steel, aluminum extrusions and steel strand for pre-stressed concrete, a White House official said.

“The steel and aluminum tariffs 2.0 will put an end to foreign dumping, boost domestic production and secure our steel and aluminum industries as the backbone and pillar industries of America’s economic and national security,” Mr. Trump’s trade adviser Peter Navarro told reporters.

As he signed the order at the White House, Mr. Trump said he would follow Monday’s action with announcements about reciprocal tariffs on all countries that impose duties on US goods over the next two days, and said he was also looking at tariffs on cars, semiconductors and pharmaceuticals.

Asked about threats of retaliation by other countries against his new tariffs, Mr. Trump said: “I don’t mind.”

US data showed aluminum smelters produced just 670,000 metric tons of the metal last year, down from 3.7 million in 2000. Plant closures in recent years including in Kentucky and Missouri have left the country largely reliant on imports.

Steel imports accounted for about 23% of American steel consumption in 2023, according to American Iron and Steel Institute data, with Canada, Brazil and Mexico the largest suppliers.

Canada, whose abundant hydropower resources aid its metal production, accounted for nearly 80% of US primary aluminum imports in 2024.

Canada’s industry minister said the US tariffs were “totally unjustified,” with Canadian steel and aluminum supporting key US industries including defense, shipbuilding, energy and autos.

“This is making North America more competitive and secure,” Francois-Philippe Champagne said in a statement. “We are consulting with our international partners as we examine the details. Our response will be clear and calibrated.”

While China exports only tiny volumes of steel to the US, it is responsible for much of the world’s excess steel capacity, according to the US. It says subsidized production in China forces other countries to export more and leads to transshipment of Chinese steel through other countries into the US to avoid tariffs and other trade restrictions.

Following losses in Asian and European steelmakers on Monday, shares of Chinese steelmakers dropped further on Tuesday, while shares in US steel and aluminum makers jumped ahead of the proclamations.

COLD WAR TRADE LAW
Mr. Trump first targeted steel and aluminum for tariffs in 2018 under a Cold War-era national security law. He later granted several countries exemptions, including Canada, Mexico and Australia, and struck duty-free quota deals for Brazil, South Korea and Argentina based on pre-tariff volumes.

Mr. Trump’s successor, former president Joseph Biden, later negotiated duty-free quotas for Britain, Japan and the EU.

“We applaud the president for instituting these 25% tariffs on steel imports and getting rid of exclusions, carveouts and quotas that are based on antiquated data,” said Philip Bell, president of the Steel Manufacturers Association.

These were based on 2015-2017 import levels that no longer reflect current market dynamics,Mr. Bell said.

The European Commission said it saw no justification for the tariffs and said President Ursula von der Leyen would meet US Vice President JD Vance in Paris on Tuesday during an AI summit.

In South Korea, the Industry Ministry called in steelmakers to discuss how to minimize the impact of tariffs.  

RECIPROCAL TARIFFS
Mr. Trump has promised detailed information on Tuesday or Wednesday on his reciprocal tariff plan. He has long complained about the European Union’s (EU) 10% tariff on auto imports, much higher than the US car rate of 2.5%. However, the US applies a 25% tariff on pickup trucks, a vital source of profit for Detroit automakers like General Motors.

Overall, the US trade-weighted average tariff rate is about 2.2%, according to World Trade Organization data, compared to 12% for India, 6.7% for Brazil, 5.1% for Vietnam and 2.7% for the EU.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is preparing tariff cuts ahead of a Wednesday meeting with Mr. Trump that could boost American exports, Indian government officials said.

Mr. Trump has previously called India a “very big abuser” on trade, and his top economic adviser Kevin Hassett singled out the country as having “enormously high” tariffs in a CNBC interview.

Mr. Trump had already threatened to impose tariffs of 25% on all imports from America’s two largest trading partners, Canada and Mexico, saying they must do more to halt the flow of drugs and migrants across the US border. After some border security concessions, Mr. Trump paused the tariffs until March 1. — Reuters

SEOUL — South Korea’s spy agency has accused Chinese AI app DeepSeek of “excessively” collecting personal data and using all input data to train itself, and questioned the app’s responses to questions relating to issues of national pride.

The National Intelligence Service (NIS) said it sent an official notice to government agencies last week urging them to take security precautions over the artificial intelligence (AI) app.

“Unlike other generative AI services, it has been confirmed that chat records are transferable as it includes a function to collect keyboard input patterns that can identify individuals and communicate with Chinese companies’ servers such as volceapplog.com,” the NIS said in a statement issued on Sunday.

Some government ministries in South Korea have blocked access to the app, citing security concerns, joining Australia and Taiwan in warning about or placing restrictions on DeepSeek.

The NIS said DeepSeek gives advertisers unlimited access to user data and stores South Korean users’ data in Chinese servers. Under Chinese law, the Chinese government would be able to access such information when requested, the agency added.

DeepSeek also provided different answers to potentially sensitive questions in different languages, the NIS noted.

It cited one such question as asking for the origin of kimchi —  a spicy, fermented dish that is a staple in South Korea.

When asked about it in Korean, the app said kimchi is a Korean dish, the NIS said.

Asked the same question in Chinese, it said the dish originated from China, it said. DeepSeek’s responses were corroborated by Reuters.

The origin of kimchi has at times been a source of contention between South Koreans and Chinese social media users in recent years.

DeepSeek has also been accused of censoring responses to political questions such as the 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown, which prompt the app to suggest changing the subject: “Let’s talk about something else.”

DeepSeek did not immediately respond to an e-mailed request for comment.

When asked about moves by South Korean government departments to block DeepSeek, a Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson told a briefing on February 6 that the Chinese government attached great importance to data privacy and security and protected it in accordance with the law.

The spokesperson also said Beijing would never ask any company or individual to collect or store data in breach of laws. — Reuters

PARIS — Europe will cut back on regulation to make it easier for artificial intelligence (AI) to flourish in the region, French President Emmanuel Macron told an AI summit in Paris on Monday, urging investment in the European Union (EU) — and more specifically in France.

The  EU’s digital chief Henna Virkkunen also promised that the bloc will simplify its rules and implement them in a business-friendly way.

As US President Donald Trump has torn up his predecessor’s AI guardrails to boost US competitiveness, pressure has built on the EU to pursue a lighter-touch approach to AI regulation to help keep European companies in the tech race.

“We will simplify,” Mr. Macron said. “It’s very clear we have to resynchronize with the rest of the world.”

Using the example of the gothic Notre-Dame cathedral, which was rebuilt in record time after a devastating fire, thanks to special, simplified regulation, Mr. Macron said: “The Notre-Dame approach will be adopted for data centers, for authorization to go to the market, for AI and attractiveness.”

After his speech, the Grand Palais venue hosting the summit switched to a nightclub atmosphere with a DJ playing music and the words “let’s innovate” and “free yourself” booming from the sound system, while spotlights swirled from a balcony.

Mr. Trump’s early moves on AI have underscored how far the strategies to regulate AI in the United States, China and EU have diverged.

And many at the two-day summit that started on Monday pushed the EU to soften its own rulebook.

“Europe’s productivity is dependent on using this emerging technology,” Alphabet Chief Executive Officer Sundar Pichai said.

Mr. Pichai called for ecosystems of AI innovation and adoption like one he said was growing in France. “How do we create more of these pockets in more places?”

In an interview with Reuters, Ms. Virkkunen, a European Commissioner, said she had gotten the message.

“I agree with industries on the fact that now, we also have to look at our rules, that we have too much overlapping regulation,” she said.

“We will cut red tape and the administrative burden from our industries,” she said. 

European lawmakers last year approved the bloc’s AI Act, the world’s first comprehensive set of rules governing the technology.

MORE INVESTMENT
Meanwhile, France hopes that world leaders at the summit will agree to a joint, non-binding text that says the AI revolution should be inclusive and sustainable.

But it was unclear whether the United States would be supportive. US Vice-President JD Vance could spell out the United States’ views when he gives a speech at the summit on Tuesday.

Mr. Macron announced private sector investments in AI in France totaling some 109 billion euros ($113 billion).

That will include French startup Mistral’s announced opening of a data centre in the wider Paris region.

Clem Delangue, the CEO of Hugging Face, a US company with French co-founders that is a hub for open-source AI online, said the size of the announced investments in France “has reassured us … that there’s going to be ambitious enough projects in France.”

Separately, one early outcome from the summit was the launch of Current AI, a partnership of countries such as France and Germany and industry players including Google and Salesforce.

With an initial $400 million in investment, the partnership will spearhead public-interest projects such as making high-quality data for AI available and investing in open-source tools. It is aiming for up to $2.5 billion in capital over five years.

Current AI founder Martin Tisné told Reuters a public-interest focus was necessary to avoid AI having downsides like social media has had. “We have to have learned the lessons,” he said.

RISKS
Not everyone in Paris agreed with taking a lighter-touch approach to AI regulation.

“What I worry about is that… there will be pressures from the US and elsewhere to weaken the EU’s AI Act and weaken those existing protections,” said Brian Chen, policy director at Data & Society, a US-based nonprofit.

Labor leaders expressed concerns on the impact of AI on workers, including what happens to workers whose jobs are taken over by AI and are pushed into new, less-protected jobs. — Reuters