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WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump said he will announce on Monday that the United States will impose 25 per cent tariffs on all steel and aluminum imports, including from Canada and Mexico, as well as other import duties later in the week.

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“Any steel coming into the United States is going to have a 25 per cent tariff,” he told reporters Sunday on Air Force One as he flew from Florida to New Orleans to attend the Super Bowl. When asked about aluminum, he responded, “aluminum, too” will be subject to the trade penalties.

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Trump also reaffirmed that he would announce “reciprocal tariffs” — “probably Tuesday or Wednesday” — meaning that the U.S. would impose import duties on products in cases where another country has levied duties on U.S. goods.

“If they are charging us 130 per cent and we’re charging them nothing, it’s not going to stay that way,” he told reporters.

Trump did not offer any details about the steel and aluminum duties, or the reciprocal tariffs.

In an interview with Fox News, the president once again said that he wants to see Canada become a state because he claims that the United States is “paying $200 billion a year” to its northern neighbour.

Trump said that Canada would be “much better off” as a state, and said he’d be fine with “subsidizing” Canada if it was a state, an apparent reference to the U.S. trade deficit with Canada.

“It’s too much. Why are we paying $200 billion a year essentially in subsidy to Canada? Now, if they’re a 51st state I don’t mind doing it,” he said.

Statistics Canada says Canada’s overall trade surplus with the U.S. was $94.4 billion in 2023, primarily due to oil exports.

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Trump made the statement in response to a question from Fox News anchor Bret Baier in the interview televised Sunday.

Baier asked Trump about Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s comments Friday, where Trudeau told a group of business leaders that Trump is not joking about making Canada a state.

Trudeau told the group at a Canada-U.S. economic summit in Toronto that Trump’s comments about making Canada a state are “a real thing.”

It was the first time the prime minister acknowledged he was taking it seriously after initially telling reporters Trump was joking and then refusing to publicly engage when Trump repeated it. Trudeau spoke to the business leaders behind closed doors after reporters were ushered out of the room. The Toronto Star was able to hear what Trudeau was saying because the audio was inadvertently broadcast.

Bloc Quebecois Leader Yves-Francois Blanchet said in a social media post directed at Trump Sunday evening that there is no scenario where the U.S. will produce enough aluminum to replace what it gets from Quebec before the end of the president’s mandate.

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He told Trump that he was exposing America’s cutting-edge industries to serious inflation, and that he should negotiate instead.

Trump initially threatened to impose 25 per cent tariffs on Canadian products due to border security issues around fentanyl and illegal immigration, but the president’s comments continue to focus on trade with Canada and more recently a perceived lack of U.S. banks in Canada.

Border issues remain the official justification for threatening tariffs, according to the executive order.

On Feb. 3, both Canada and Mexico were granted at least 30 days reprieves from the threat being realized after both Trudeau and Mexican president Claudia Sheinbaum talked to Trump about their respective border plans.

Canada’s plan includes $1.3 billion in spending, first announced in December, on enhanced border security, including patrols with helicopters, and the creation of a “fentanyl czar,” who will work with U.S. counterparts in combating the toxic drug crisis.

Tariffs are coming much earlier in his presidency than during his previous four years in the White House, when he prioritized tax cuts and deregulation. Trump has alternately said he sees import taxes as tools to force concessions on issues such as immigration, but also as a source of revenue to help close the government’s budget deficit.

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Trump imposed steel and aluminum tariffs at 25 and 10 per cent respectively during his first term in March 2018 using national security as justification.

Canada was initially given an exemption to these duties, but was ultimately hit by the tariffs on May 31, 2018. Canada responded with a series of counter-tariffs on American products like Florida orange juice.

Nearly a year later, on May 17, 2019, the White House announced a deal had been reached to prevent “surges” in the steel and aluminum supplies from Canada and Mexico, ending the trade dispute.

Financial markets fell on Friday after Trump first said he would impose the reciprocal tariffs. Stock prices also dropped after a measure of consumer sentiment declined on Friday, largely because many respondents cited tariffs as a growing worry. The survey also found that Americans are expecting inflation to tick up in the coming months because of the duties.

Associated Press writer Darlene Superville aboard Air Force One contributed to this report; with additional reporting by The Canadian Press

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