President Trump announced Sunday that he plans to slap a 25% tariff on steel and aluminum imports, marking his latest move to reshape global trade.
Speaking to reporters on Air Force One, Mr. Trump said he plans to roll out the tariffs Monday. They will apply to all steel imports.
“Any steel coming into the United States is going to have a 25% tariff,” Mr. Trump said on his way to the Super Bowl.
Mr. Trump said he plans to announce reciprocal tariffs, which he promised on the campaign trail, later this week against countries that slap fees on U.S. imports.
Since taking the oath of office three weeks ago, Mr. Trump has been moving his MAGA agenda down the field at a dizzying pace. This has sparked a flurry of legal battles over the limits of his authority and left Democrats scrambling for effective responses.
Mr. Trump signed a record-breaking number of executive orders that redefined national priorities and followed through with his campaign promises on immigration, trade, diversity programs, women’s sports and foreign aid.
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He pardoned almost everyone charged in connection with the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol, fired inspectors general across several agencies and offered buyouts to millions of government workers.
On Sunday, Mr. Trump became the first sitting president to attend the Super Bowl in person. He appeared at the Superdome in New Orleans to see the Philadelphia Eagles face off against the Kansas City Chiefs.
On his way to the game, Mr. Trump garnered additional headlines when he signed a proclamation recognizing Feb. 9, 2025, as the first Gulf of America Day aboard Air Force One as it flew over the body of water that the rest of the world calls the Gulf of Mexico.
“We are flying right over it right now,” Mr. Trump said, sitting aboard Air Force One with a pen in his hand. “So we thought this would be appropriate.”
Mr. Trump’s blitz of recent activity has included:
• Revoking former President Joseph R. Biden’s access to government secrets years after the Democrat did the same to him.
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• Signaling that Japan’s Nippon Steel would no longer purchase U.S. Steel but would significantly invest in the American company.
• Signing an executive order pausing all financial assistance to South Africa in response to the government’s “rights violations” against some White citizens.
• Firing the United States archivist, who oversees the collection and preservation of government records.
• Announcing that he is firing members of the board of trustees of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and has named himself chairman.
• Signing an executive memo ordering a review of the federal funding that flows to nongovernmental organizations.
The administration continues to push to dismantle the U.S. Agency for International Development, which it says has become a slush fund for left-wing priorities.
He signaled that the courts would not stop him from fulfilling his campaign promise to change Washington’s big-spending consensus culture.
He said he disagrees with resistance to the Elon Musk-led Department of Government Efficiency, including a federal judge’s decision to temporarily block the office from accessing sensitive information at the Treasury Department.
“I disagree with it 100%. I think it’s crazy, and we have to solve the efficiency problem,” Mr. Trump said in a pre-Super Bowl interview with Fox News Channel anchor Bret Baier.
Mr. Trump said Mr. Musk did a “terrific” job identifying waste at USAID and would do the same once he digs into education and military spending.
“We’re going to find billions — hundreds of billions of dollars — of fraud and abuse,” he said.
He made it clear he was not joking when he said he wanted Canada to become the 51st state.
The Trump administration has faced blowback from Democrats and lawsuits against some of his early actions.
A federal judge temporarily blocked members of DOGE from accessing payment systems in the Treasury Department after 19 state attorneys general claimed the office had no authority to do so. Another judge issued a temporary restraining order against the administration’s plan to put 2,200 USAID employees on paid leave.
Although Mr. Trump remains a polarizing figure across the country, he has enjoyed more of a postelection honeymoon than he did during the beginning of his first term in office.
Indeed, a national CBS News/YouGov survey found that Americans, by a 53% to 47% margin, approve of his job performance, and 70% say he is doing what he promised to do on the campaign trail, whether they like it or not.
A majority of Americans support his efforts to deport illegal immigrants and secure the southern border, but they think he should be more focused on lowering prices. They are far more split over Mr. Musk’s influence on national spending.
Before the Super Bowl, Mr. Trump predicted that the Chiefs would win. He cited quarterback Patrick Mahomes’ success and praised his “phenomenal wife,” Brittany Mahomes.
“She is a Trump fan. She is a MAGA fan. So I happen to love her,” he said in the Fox interview. “She is great, and he is great.”
• Seth McLaughlin can be reached at smclaughlin@washingtontimes.com.