Trump expands steel and aluminum tariffs to 407 more products

The Trump administration has quietly expanded its 50% steel and aluminum tariffs to include more than 400 additional product categories, vastly increasing the reach and impact of this arm of its trade agenda.

The new tariffs, which took effect Monday, expand the scope of the levies that President Donald Trump previously announced on the valuable commodities. The tariff list now covers products such as fire extinguishers, machinery, construction materials and specialty chemicals that either contain, or are contained in, aluminum or steel.

“Auto parts, chemicals, plastics, furniture components—basically, if it’s shiny, metallic, or remotely related to steel or aluminum, it’s probably on the list,” Brian Baldwin, vice president of customs at Kuehne + Nagel International AG wrote on LinkedIn of the expanded list.

“This isn’t just another tariff—it’s a strategic shift in how steel and aluminum derivatives are regulated,” he wrote.

The levies extend to 407 new product categories, the Department of Commerce said Tuesday.

“Today’s action expands the reach of the steel and aluminum tariffs and shuts down avenues for circumvention – supporting the continued revitalization of the American steel and aluminum industries,” Jeffrey Kessler, the Commerce Department’s under secretary for industry and security, said in a statement.

The release from the agency links out to a list that identifies the newly included product types only by the specific customs codes that apply to them, not by what the products are actually called.

For example, the Commerce Department identifies the product category of fire extinguishers only as “8424.10.0000,” a 10-digit code buried among hundreds of other 10-digit codes.

This format makes it very difficult for the public to get a full picture of all the products that are affected by Monday’s expanded tariffs.

But experts say the impact will be enormous.

“By my count, the steel and aluminum tariffs now affect at least $320 billion of imports based on 2024’s general customs value of imports,” Jason Miller, a professor of supply chain management at Michigan State University, wrote on LinkedIn. That is a substantial increase from his prior estimate of roughly $190 billion.

“This will add more inflationary cost-push pressures to already climbing prices that domestic producers are charging as picked up by July’s PPI data,“ he continued.

Trump has repeatedly relied on sector-specific tariffs to enact his sweeping trade agenda.

In June, Trump announced that he was doubling tariffs on steel and aluminum imports to 50% for most countries, creating widespread uncertainty for businesses and U.S. trading partners reliant on the valuable commodities.

The White House said that the tariffs on additional products should “not come as a surprise.”

“The President called for a new steel and aluminum product inclusions process in February,” White House spokesperson Kush Desai said in a statement.

“[The Bureau of Industry and Security] established the new product inclusions process in April, and companies submitted requests for product inclusions in mid-May,” he said.

“Thus, it has been clear for many months that new products could be treated as steel and aluminum derivatives.”