President Trump said at a rally in Pennsylvania on Friday that he is going to double tariffs on steel imports from 25% to 50%.
The hike, the president said, "will even further secure the steel industry in the United States."
Earlier on Friday, Trump lashed out at China on Truth Social, saying China had "violated" its trade deal with the US.
"The bad news is that China, perhaps not surprisingly to some, HAS TOTALLY VIOLATED ITS AGREEMENT WITH US. So much for being Mr. NICE GUY!" Trump wrote. Later in the Oval Office, he hinted he planned to speak with Chinese leader Xi Jinping.
Trump did not specify how China allegedly broke the agreement. During an interview with CNBC, US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer claimed the Chinese were "slow rolling their compliance."
The escalation comes as the US-China detente — reached earlier this month, when each country eased sky-high tariffs on the other — looks more fragile amid both trade-related and other tensions.
Meanwhile, Trump's most sweeping tariffs have entered a period of legal uncertainty. A federal appeals court allowed the tariffs to temporarily stay in effect, a day after the US Court of International Trade blocked their implementation, deeming the method used to enact them "unlawful."
That means Trump's tariff agenda remains intact, if in flux, in the latest twist in the unfolding legal saga that Trump said Friday he was confident he would "win."
Late Wednesday, the trade court had voted to block many of Trump's tariffs, including the flat-rate "reciprocal" tariffs aimed at US trade partners, as well as key China-focused duties.
The US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, which oversees the International Trade Court, granted the Trump administration’s request for a temporary administrative stay. This gives the court time to review legal arguments and filings. The administration must submit its briefings by June 9, after which the court will determine the next steps.
The White House has vowed to take its appeal to the Supreme Court if necessary.
Administration officials also hinted that court rulings would not be the final say for a president who has based much of his economic agenda on enacting the tariffs. Yahoo Finance's Ben Werschkul has an overview of the other maneuvers Trump could pursue.
Amid the legal chaos, US trade negotiations have apparently continued in earnest this week with India and the EU.
Here are the latest updates as the policy reverberates around the world.
LIVE 1030 updates
Yahoo Finance's senior reporter Hamza Shaban reports on Wall Street's dilemma with Trump's tariffs:
More retailers are feeling the impact of Trump's tariffs as both Macy's (M) and Michael Kors parent company Capri (CAPR) lowered their annual profit and revenue forecasts on Wednesday, citing tariffs as the cause.
Capri cut its revenue forecast for 2026, signaling that tariff-related uncertainty was weighing on demand for its handbags and accessories in North America and Asia.
Macy's followed in a similar fashion: Yahoo Finance senior reporter Brooke DiPalma said the company reaffirmed its sales guidance, but revised its earnings outlook due to uncertainty surrounding tariffs, consumer sentiments, and the competitive landscape.
Macy's is facing multiple macro headwinds as consumer sentiment sags, costs rise with Trump's tariffs, and trends grow toward e-commerce and direct-to-consumer.
India has offered steep cuts to its import tariffs on a range of goods in talks with the US, but is said to be retaining high duties on certain agricultural commodities, according to people familiar with the negotiations.
The FT reports:
As the US and European Union negotiate a new trade deal to avoid President Trump-imposed tariffs, it's worth taking a moment to note that the US and the EU have the largest bilateral trade relationship in the world.
According to the Council of the European Union (and converted to USD), the transatlantic trade in goods and services topped 1.8 trillion in 2023 after a post-pandemic surge:
A measure of tariff revenue has spiked this month as importers paid the baseline "Liberation Day" tariffs that went into effect on April 5, along with other duties set by President Trump.
Government receipts for "Customs and Certain Excise Taxes" have already topped $22.3 billion this month, according to Treasury Department data.
Yahoo Finance's Ben Werschkul reports:
Yahoo Finance's Jennifer Schonberger reports:
The Chinese Premier Li Qiang has urged Southeast Asian and Gulf states to help create a 'big market', in a bid to counter US efforts to isolate China's economy.
Bloomberg News reports:
Retailers, who have suffered under Trump's tariffs, are increasingly warming to offers to sell in order to escape market volatility that has caused company valuations to seesaw in recent months, according to a report in Reuters.
Reuters reports:
Malaysia's Trade and Industry minister Zafrul Aziz said that the US reducing its proposed tariffs on Malaysia to 10% is a positive move, conceding that a previously hoped for levy of zero may not be possible.
Bloomberg News reports:
Trump tariffs are staring to impact everything from retail prices to consumer spending and now, a Spanish hatmaker with a 40-year tradition of supplying felt hats to orthodox Jews in the US has become the latest casualty of the president's trade war.
Reuters reports:
In the latest AP dispatch from Frankfurt, which details how the European Union's chief trade negotiator said he had “good calls” with Trump administration officials on Monday, David McHugh noted that the EU "has offered Trump a 'zero for zero' deal in which tariffs would be removed on industrial goods including automobiles, but the U.S. administration has said it will not lower tariffs below a 10% baseline imposed on almost all its trading partners. Trump has also announced tariffs of 25% on steel and automobiles."
That raises the question of where the negotiations, which got back on the rails over the weekend after a call between President Trump and EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, will go from here — and what Trump will have to say next time he discusses the $1.8 trillion trade relationship.
The European Union, which has 27 member states, comprises the largest US trade partner. But President Trump may be demanding more that the EU can stomach in ongoing trade talks.
Later on in the piece, there's a quote from Irish agriculture minister Martin Heydon: "We are one of the most important trading partners for the U.S. So we shouldn't just agree to whatever the demand is from the White House. We should negotiate and explain that mutually beneficial nature of the trade."
