President Trump signed proclamations Thursday that institute a 25-percent tariff on steel and a 10-percent tariff on aluminum with exemptions for Canada and Mexico until the North American Free Trade Agreement is renegotiated.

"I'm delivering on a promise I made during the campaign," he said, addressing the steel and aluminum workers who had come to the White House to see Mr. Trump sign the tariffs.

The tariffs will go into effect 15 days from the proclamation signing, according to a White House official who briefed reporters on background. The president said he is open to modifying tariffs for some countries -- the Trump administration will allow any country that has a security relationship with the Trump administration to discuss potential modifications to "address the threatened impairment of the national security caused by imports from that country," the official added. Some countries might qualify for an exemption if their products "no longer threaten our security," the president said.

Mr. Trump's announcement comes after a hullabaloo of a week: Gary Cohn, the president's chief economic adviser, said that he planned to resign from the administration on Tuesday, after vehemently lobbying against steel and aluminum tariffs. The former Goldman Sachs executive lost out to White House aide and resident nationalist Peter Navarro and Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross who have petitioned for an aggressive protectionist trade policy.

Nevertheless, flanked by steel and aluminum workers "from the heartland," Mr. Trump signed the two proclamations. The White House official touts the 500 jobs that will be restored to steel workers in Illinois, after U.S. Steel announced that it would be restarting their factory because of the decision to impose tariffs.

"It should be a great day for America," the White House official said.

Cohn wasn't the only one angered and blindsided by the president's decision to impose tariffs on steel and aluminum imports, despite the fact that it's an issue Mr. Trump has consistently complained about for decades. A group of 107 Republicans on the Hill released a letter on Wednesday urging the president to "reconsider the idea of broad tariffs to avoided unintended negative consequences onto the U.S. economy and its workers."

A White House official argued that dissent from Congress and others had not led to a "softening of our position in any way whatsoever," but that the proclamation was designed to be flexible with partners "we have great relationships with," naming Canada, Mexico, Europe and Australia.

"We are not looking to get into trade wars. We are looking to make sure that U.S. companies can compete fairly around the world," Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin said Tuesday at the House Appropriates hearing.

The president himself has struck a less measured tone on Twitter and in person.

"When we're behind on every single country, trade wars aren't so bad," Mr. Trump said at a press conference with the Swedish prime minister on Tuesday.</s>SANTIAGO, Chile (AP) — Trade ministers from 11 Pacific Rim countries are set to sign a sweeping agreement to streamline trade and slash tariffs just as U.S. President Donald Trump is preparing to formalize new tariffs on aluminum and steel to protect U.S. producers.

The deal signed Thursday in the Chilean capital is an outgrowth of the Trans-Pacific Partnership that Trump pulled the U.S. out of last year.

Many feared the agreement would not prosper without its most influential country. But the remaining 11 members pressed ahead, saying it shows resolve against protectionism.

The pact includes Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore and Vietnam.</s>BRUSSELS/SHANGHAI/TOKYO: From Japan and South Korea to Australia and Europe, officials lined up on Friday to seek exemptions from President Donald Trump's tariffs on U.S. steel and aluminum imports, while Chinese producers called on Beijing to retaliate in kind.

Tokyo and Brussels rejected any suggestion that their exports to the United States threatened its national security - Trump's justification for imposing the tariffs despite warnings at home and abroad that they could provoke a global trade war.

"We are an ally, not a threat," European Commission Vice President Jyrki Katainen said.

China's metals industry issued the country's most explicit threat yet in the row, urging the government to retaliate by targeting U.S. coal - a sector that is central to Trump's political base and his election pledge to restore American industries and blue-collar jobs.

Trump signed an order for the 25 percent tariffs on steel imports and 10 percent for aluminum at the White House on Thursday to counter cheap imports, especially from China, which he described as "an assault on our country".

However, he said "real friends" of the United States could win waivers from the measures, which come into force after 15 days. In the event he exempted Canada and Mexico.

Brazil, which after Canada is the biggest steel supplier to the U.S. market, said it wanted to join the exemption list and Argentina made a similar case.

Japan, the United States' top economic and military ally in Asia, was next in line. Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga told a news conference that Japan's steel and aluminum shipments posed no threat to U.S. national security.

With Japan a major trade partner and international investor, Suga said that, on the contrary, they contributed greatly to employment and industry in the United States. Japan's steel industry body also expressed concern.

The European Union, the world's biggest trade bloc, chimed in. "Europe is certainly not a threat to American internal security so we expect to be excluded," European trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmstrom said in Brussels.

Malmstrom told reporters the EU was ready to complain to the World Trade Organization, and retaliate within 90 days. She will meet U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and Japanese Trade Minister Hiroshige Seko in Brussels on Saturday when she will ask whether the EU is to be included in the tariffs.

She won support from German Chancellor Angela Merkel. Shares in European steelmakers fell, although Germany's two biggest producers Thyssenkrupp and Salzgitter have insisted the impact on them will be limited.

Other officials at the EU, by far the biggest trading partner of the United States by value, have warned it could take counter-measures including European tariffs on U.S. oranges, tobacco and bourbon.

Some products under consideration are largely produced in constituencies controlled by Trump's Republican Party. Brussels has reminded Trump that tit-for-tat trade measures deepened the Great Depression in the 1930s and in the 2000s cost thousands of U.S. jobs when Washington imposed tariffs on European steel.

European industry associations called on Malmstrom to react to the tariffs. "The loss of exports to the U.S., combined with an expected massive import surge in the EU, could cost tens of thousands of jobs in the EU steel industry and related sectors," said Axel Eggert, head of steel association EUROFER.

In Sydney, Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said there is no case for imposing tariffs on Australian steel.

Trade tensions between Washington and Beijing have risen since Trump took office last year. China accounts for only a small fraction of U.S. steel imports, but its rapid rise to produce half the world's steel has helped create a global glut that has driven down prices.

Beijing vowed to "firmly defend its legitimate rights and interests". Tariffs would "seriously impact the normal order of international trade," the Commerce Ministry said.

China's steel and metals associations urged the government to retaliate, citing imports from the United States ranging from stainless steel to coal, agricultural products and electronics.

Last year, China imported 3.2 million tonnes of U.S. coal, worth about US$420 million and nearly five times the amount it took in 2016. Trump has championed coal exports as demand from power firms at home weakens.

The dispute has fueled concerns that soybeans, the United States' most valuable export to China, might be caught up in the row after Beijing launched an inquiry probe into imports of U.S. sorghum, a grain used in animal feed and liquor.

South Korea, the third largest steel exporter to the United States and a strategic ally on the Korean peninsula, called for calm. "We should prevent a trade war situation from excessive protectionism, in which the entire world harms each other," Trade Minister Paik Un-gyu told a meeting with steelmakers.

While carrying a message to Washington to push forward a diplomatic breakthrough over North Korea, South Korea's national security office chief Chung Eui-yong asked U.S. officials to support Seoul's request for a waiver, a presidential spokesman said.</s>China has accused Donald Trump of damaging the global trading system by hiking steel and aluminium tariffs, while Japan and South Korea expressed alarm at potential economic damage.

China's Commerce Ministry said it "firmly opposes" the US president's move, but gave no indication whether Beijing might make good on threats to retaliate.

Asian stock markets rose in early trading on relief that Mr Trump's measures were not more severe.

Traders also were encouraged by news Mr Trump might meet North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.

South Korea's trade minister, speaking at an emergency meeting, appealed to other governments to prevent a "trade war".

"We will urge the international community to refrain from adopting measures that inhibit free trade," said the minister, Paik Un-gyu, according to a ministry statement.

Mr Trump said the tariff hikes ordered yesterday were needed to protect US national security by ensuring the survival of the country's metals producers.

"These measures could make a significant impact on the economic and cooperative relationship between Japan and the US, who are allies," said Taro Kono, Japan's trade minister, in a statement.

The new tariffs take effect in 15 days, with Canada and Mexico indefinitely spared "to see if we can make the deal," Mr Trump said, referring to a possible renegotiation of the North American Free Trade Agreement.

He suggested at a Cabinet meeting that Australia and "other countries" might be spared, a shift that could soften the blow amid threats of retaliation.

Mr Trump has complained about low-cost Chinese exports of steel and aluminium, but the latest move was likely to hit Japan and South Korea harder.

The United States bought just 1.1% of China's steel exports last year compared with 12% for South Korea and 5% for Japan, according to the US International Trade Commission.

"Significant damage in South Korea's steel exports to the United States seems unavoidable," said Mr Paik's statement.

Australia's trade minister said he had preliminary discussions with the US trade representative, Robert Lighthizer.

The minister, Steve Ciobo, expressed hope of "finalising a positive outcome in the next two weeks".

The Chinese Commerce Ministry criticised Mr Trump for taking unilateral action instead of working through the World Trade Organisation.

Beijing said it was ready to retaliate in the event Chinese companies are hurt, but Friday's statement gave no indication of official action.

"The US pursues trade protectionism," said the China Iron & Steel Association, an industry group, in a statement.

"This move will harm the global steel industry, and seriously hurt consumers' interests," said the statement. It said the United States "will injure others and harm itself."</s>Unswayed by Republican warnings of a trade war, President Donald Trump ordered steep new tariffs on steel and aluminum imports to the U.S. on Thursday, vowing to fight back against an "assault on our country" by foreign competitors. The president said he would exempt Canada and Mexico while negotiating for changes to the North American Free Trade Agreement.

The new tariffs will take effect in 15 days, with Canada and Mexico indefinitely exempted "to see if we can make the deal," Trump said. NAFTA talks are expected to resume early next month.

"The American aluminum and steel industry has been ravaged by aggressive foreign trade practices. It's really an assault on our country. It's been an assault," Trump said at the White House. He was joined by steel and aluminum workers holding white hard hats.

American steel and aluminum workers have long been betrayed, but "that betrayal is now over," Trump said. The former real estate developer said politicians had for years lamented the decline in the industries, but nobody was willing to take action.

As he has indicated previously, Trump said he would levy tariffs of 25 percent on imported steel and 10 percent on aluminum. But he said during a Cabinet meeting earlier in the day that the penalties would "have a right to go up or down depending on the country and I'll have a right to drop out countries or add countries. I just want fairness."

Business leaders, meanwhile, have continued to sound the alarm about the potential economic fallout from tariffs, with the president and CEO of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce raising the specter of a global trade war. That scenario, Tom Donohue said, would endanger the economic momentum from the GOP tax cuts and Trump's rollback of regulations.

"We urge the administration to take this risk seriously," Donohue said.

The president suggested in the meeting with his Cabinet that Australia and "other countries" might also be spared, a shift that could soften the international blow amid threats of retaliation by trading partners.

"We're going to be very fair, we're going to be very flexible but we're going to protect the American worker as I said I would do in my campaign," Trump said.

People briefed on the plans ahead of the announcement said all countries affected by the tariffs would be invited to negotiate with the administration to be exempted from the tariffs if they can address the threat their exports pose to U.S. manufacturers. The exemptions for Canada and Mexico could be ended if talks to renegotiate NAFTA stall.

The process of announcing the penalties has been the subject of an intense debate and chaotic exchanges within the White House, pitting hard-liners against free trade advocates such as outgoing economic adviser Gary Cohn.

The fight over tariffs comes amid intense turmoil in the West Wing, which has seen waves of departures and negative news stories that have left Trump increasingly isolated in the Oval Office, according to two senior officials speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal discussions.

Congressional Republicans and business groups are bracing for the impact of the tariffs and the departure of Cohn, a former Goldman Sachs executive who has opposed them.

House Speaker Paul Ryan, appearing at a session with Home Depot employees in Atlanta, said ahead of Trump's announcement, "I'm just not a fan of broad-based, across-the-board tariffs." He pointed to the store's many products that rely on steel and aluminum.

More than 100 House Republicans wrote Trump on Wednesday, asking him to reconsider "the idea of broad tariffs to avoid unintended negative consequences" to the U.S. economy and workers.

Arizona Sen. Jeff Flake, a Republican, said he plans to introduce legislation next week to nullify the tariffs though he has acknowledged that finding the votes to stop the president's actions could be difficult.

The president has said the tariffs are needed to reinforce lagging American steel and aluminum industries and protect national security.

Associated Press writers Lisa Mascaro, Darlene Superville, Zeke Miller, Matthew Daly and Alan Fram in Washington and Lorne Cook in Brussels contributed to this report.</s>The US President Donald Trump on Thursday formally signed proclamations to impose steep tariffs on imported steel and aluminum amid mounting dissent from business groups and trading partners around the world. The US will impose a 25 per cent tariff on imported steel and 10 per cent on aluminum, Xinhua quoted Trump as saying. He said this at an event at the White House, noting a strong steel and aluminum industry is “vital to our national security.”

The tariffs will take effect in 15 days with initial exemptions for Canada and Mexico pending the renegotiation of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). “We’re going to hold off the tariff on those two countries, to see whether or not we’re able to make the deal on NAFTA,” Trump said.

Trump signaled that all other countries also have opportunities to be exempt from the tariffs by negotiations with the United States. “If the same goals can be accomplished by other means, America will remain open to modifying or removing the tariffs for individual nations, as long as we can agree on a way to ensure that their products no longer threaten our security,” he said.</s>WASHINGTON — After a week of hints and uncertainty, President Donald Trump said Thursday he would announce tariffs on imported steel and aluminum but with temporary exemptions for Canada and Mexico as he seeks to revise the North American Free Trade Agreement. He suggested Australia and “other countries” might also be spared, a shift that could soften the international blow amid threats of retaliation by trading partners.

Trump’s tariffs on steel and aluminum imports will take effect in 15 days, with Canada and Mexico indefinitely exempted from the duties, according to people outside the White House who were briefed on the plans Thursday. The people spoke on condition of anonymity ahead of the president’s signing of the orders.

“We’re going to be very fair, we’re going to be very flexible but we’re going to protect the American worker as I said I would do in my campaign,” Trump said during a Cabinet meeting.

The president reiterated that he would levy tariffs of 25 percent on imported steel and 10 percent on aluminum but would “have a right to go up or down depending on the country and I’ll have a right to drop out countries or add countries. I just want fairness.”

The president indicated Canada and Mexico’s treatment would be connected to the ongoing NAFTA talks, which are expected to resume in early April.

The people briefed on the plans said all countries affected by the tariffs would be invited to negotiate with the Trump administration to be exempted from the tariffs if they can address the threat their exports pose to U.S. manufacturers. The people said the exclusions for Canada and Mexico could be ended if talks to renegotiate NAFTA stall.

The process of announcing the penalties has been the subject of an intense debate and chaotic exchanges within the White House, pitting hard-liners against free trade advocates such as outgoing economic adviser Gary Cohn aiming to add more flexibility for U.S. trading partners.

The fight over tariffs comes amid intense turmoil in the West Wing, which has seen waves of departures and negative news stories that have left Trump increasingly isolated in the Oval Office, according to two senior officials speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal thinking. Trump was still hearing last-minute pleas from opponents of the tariff plan, and White House officials said they couldn’t predict how the day would shake out.

Steel and aluminum workers were invited to the White House for the afternoon announcement with Trump.

Peter Navarro, Trump’s trade and manufacturing adviser, said in an interview on Fox Business on Wednesday that the tariffs would go into effect within about 15 to 30 days and that the proclamation signed by the president would include a clause that would not immediately impose tariffs on Canada and Mexico.

Press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders told reporters the exemptions would be made on a “case by case” and “country by country” basis, a reversal from the policy articulated by the White House just days ago that there would be no exemptions from Trump’s plan.

Congressional Republicans and business groups are bracing for the impact of the tariffs, appearing resigned to additional protectionist trade actions as Trump signals upcoming economic battles with China.

The looming departure of Cohn, a former Goldman Sachs executive who has opposed the promised tariffs, set off anxiety among business leaders and investors worried about a potential trade war.

“We urge you to reconsider the idea of broad tariffs to avoid unintended negative consequences to the U.S. economy and its workers,” 107 House Republicans wrote in a letter to Trump.

At the White House, officials were working to include language in the tariffs that would give Trump the flexibility to approve exemptions for certain countries.

“He’s already indicated a degree of flexibility, I think a very sensible, very balanced degree of flexibility,” Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross told CNBC. “We’re not trying to blow up the world.”

Trump signaled other trade actions could be in the works. In a tweet, he said the “U.S. is acting swiftly on Intellectual Property theft.” A White House official said Trump was referencing an ongoing investigation of China in which the U.S. trade representative is studying whether Chinese intellectual property rules are “unreasonable or discriminatory” to American business.

The official, who was not authorized to discuss internal deliberations and spoke on the condition of anonymity, said an announcement on the findings of the report — and possible retaliatory actions — was expected within the next three weeks.

Business leaders, meanwhile, continued to sound the alarm about the potential economic fallout from tariffs, with the president and CEO of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce raising the specter of a global trade war. That scenario, Tom Donohue said, would endanger the economic momentum from the GOP tax cuts and Trump’s rollback of regulations.

“We urge the administration to take this risk seriously,” Donohue said.

The president has said the tariffs are needed to reinforce lagging American steel and aluminum industries and protect national security. He has tried to use the tariffs as leverage in ongoing talks to renegotiate NAFTA, suggesting Canada and Mexico might be exempted from tariffs if they offer more favorable terms under the trade agreement.

Associated Press writers Darlene Superville, Zeke Miller, Matthew Daly and Alan Fram in Washington and Lorne Cook in Brussels contributed to this report.

Follow the Bangor Daily News on Facebook for the latest Maine news.</s>WASHINGTON -- Canada appears to have dodged a protectionist bullet, as one of only two countries to receive a provisional exemption from steel and aluminum tariffs set to rip into America's trading relationships around the globe.

President Donald Trump signed proclamations Thursday slapping U.S. tariffs of 25 per cent on steel and 10 per cent on aluminum from almost every country, with the penalties snapping into effect in 15 days.

After months of frantic lobbying, diplomatic arm-twisting and heated debates within his own administration, Trump made good on his tariff threat at the White House, surrounded by steelworkers.

The only two countries escaping tariffs were America's neighbours: Canada and Mexico.

It's not impossible they could be added later, but the president's own language, the wording of the proclamations and comments from a White House official all went out of their way to avoid any explicit threats against Canada and Mexico, leaving dangling only the vague possibility.

Trump danced around the question of whether the tariff threat will be used to bully Canada and Mexico at the NAFTA bargaining table. He said only that the reprieve remains in place for now and that NAFTA is important to economic and national security.

"Due to the unique nature of our relationship with Canada and Mexico ... we're gonna hold off the tariff for those two countries," Trump said during a signing ceremony.

"If we don't make the deal on NAFTA, and if we terminate NAFTA ... we'll start all over again. Or we'll just do it a different way. But we'll terminate NAFTA, and that'll be it. But I have a feeling we're gonna make a deal on NAFTA. ... If we do there won't be any tariffs on Canada, and there won't be any tariffs on Mexico."

The actual formal documents specifically state that Canada and Mexico are a special case, given the continent's shared commitment to mutual security, an integrated defence industry and the shared fight against dumped steel and that the best way to address U.S. concerns -- "at least at this time" -- is by continuing discussions.

The references to security are critical.

By law, the tariffs need to be described as a national security matter. A provision in a 1962 U.S. law allows the president to set emergency tariffs as a security issue. But the White House has repeatedly undermined its own legal case, including by intimating that the tariffs would be held over Canada and Mexico as some kind of negotiating tool to extract NAFTA concessions.

The White House is now clearly avoiding that kind of talk: "We will have ongoing discussions with Canada and Mexico," a senior White House official said in a pre-announcement briefing.

The aide expressed frustration at the way the tariffs have been characterized, referring repeatedly to the "fake news," the lobbyists and the "swamp things" that he said exaggerated the ill effects while fighting the measures.

Two polls released this week say the tariffs are unpopular.

But the same official said it truly is a matter of national security -- with six U.S. aluminum smelters shutting down the last few years, and just five remaining, and only two operating at full capacity, he said that leaves the U.S. at risk of having to import all its aluminum eventually.

The White House adviser also pushed back against reports casting the process as arbitrary, sloppy and rife for successful legal challenges.

In one alleged example of haphazard policy-making, a report this week said the president raised the tariff rates for branding purposes, increasing them from the 24 and 7 per cent recommended by the Department of Commerce -- because he wanted nice, round numbers.

The official insisted that was untrue. He said it was only upon careful calculation of import effects that the numbers landed at 25 per cent and 10 per cent. He did not explain how those round numbers managed to survive intact, even after the formula was later upended by the exclusion from tariffs of major suppliers.

Canada is the No. 1 seller of both steel and aluminum to the U.S.

The fact that Canada might be included on the initial hit list had become a political sore spot for the administration, as U.S. critics of the move ridiculed it by zeroing on the idea of national-security tariffs against a peaceful next-door neighbour and defence ally.

A full-court diplomatic press unfolded in recent days, with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau calling Trump earlier this week, and then speaking Thursday with the Republican leaders of both the House of Representatives and the Senate.

Canada's ambassador to Washington dined this week with U.S. national-security adviser H.R. McMaster; Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland, Natural Resources Minister Jim Carr, Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan, and Transport Minister Marc Garneau all reached out to cabinet counterparts in recent days.

The lobbying found a mostly receptive audience: the U.S. military strongly resisted tariffs against allies and 107 congressional Republicans released a letter this week to express alarm over the move.

"This has been a true Team Canada effort," said Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland, also crediting provincial premiers, businesses and labour leaders.

"This work continues and it will continue until the prospect of these duties is fully and permanently lifted."

She said Canada planned to keep this issue separate from NAFTA negotiations, as it has done with disputes over softwood lumber, paper, and Bombardier.

Other countries have threatened reprisals, prompting fears of a global trade war. But Trump said other American allies can get exemptions later, in exchange for something in return. He said they need to contact U.S. trade czar Robert Lighthizer, and negotiate.</s>President Trump officially unveiled promised tariffs on foreign metals Thursday, defying allies, rivals and members of his own party alike.

The steep levies — 25% on imported steel and 10% on aluminum — will go in to effect in 15 days, include temporary exemptions for Canada and Mexico, and will allow all countries to negotiate exclusions, Trump said.

The protectionist duties, which Trump boastfully pointed out fulfilled a campaign promise, are needed because the U.S. has been “ravaged by aggressive foreign trade practices.”

Icahn claims he didn't know of tariffs before metal stocks dump

“Our industries have been targeted for years and years, decades in fact, by unfair foreign trade practices leading to the shuttered plants and mills, the laying off of millions of workers and the decimation of entire communities,” Trump said as a group of steel and aluminum workers stood close by at the White House.

In a hat tip to his dark and haunting Inauguration Day speech, Trump called the struggles of domestic steel and aluminum industry a “travesty.”

“Our factories were left to rot and rust all over the place,” Trump said. “Thriving communities were turned into ghost towns.”

Republican lawmakers, business leaders and allies warning of trade wars all attempted to caution the President against imposing the tariffs.

EU could tax orange juice, peanut butter in response to Trump

“We urge you to reconsider the idea of broad tariffs to avoid unintended negative consequences to the U.S. economy and its workers,” more than 100 House Republicans wrote in a letter to the President on Thursday.

Sen. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.) called the tariffs a “marriage of two lethal poisons to economic growth – protectionism and uncertainty” and vowed to draft legislation to nullify the duties.

Trump’s tariffs on steel and aluminum imports will take effect in 15 days, with Canada and Mexico indefinitely exempted from the duties, people outside the White House who were briefed on the plans Thursday told the Associated Press.

The exclusion for Canada and Mexico could come to an end, if talks stall to renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement.

Trump will also have the power to exclude or add countries to the list at will and be able to raise or lower levies on case-by-case basis.

Australia was singled out as an example of another country that could be exempt because of a trade surplus.

“We’re going to be very flexible,” Trump said. “At the same time, we have some friends and some enemies where we have been tremendously taken advantage of over the years.”

The President then invited several steel and aluminum workers to speak.

House Speaker Paul Ryan urges Trump to reverse course on tariffs

The president of United Steelworkers Local 2227, Scott Sauritch, stood up and explained that his father lost his job during the 1980s because of foreign imports coming in to the U.S.

He noted that his father’s “story didn’t end” while thanking the President for his tariffs.

“Your father Herman is looking down,” Trump said. “he’s very proud of you.”

“He’s still alive,” Sauritch responded, drawing laughs from the other workers in the Roosevelt Room.

“Then he’s even more proud of you,” Trump joked, putting his hand to the side of his mouth.

Vice President Pence, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross and U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer all joined the group for the signing.

Ross recommended the tariffs in a report released last month after a nine month investigation.

It found that current steel and aluminum imports had the “potential to threaten our national security.”

While the protectionist plans could boost employment in steel and aluminum by 33,000, they could cost the U.S. 179,000 jobs in other areas of the economy, according to a report by consulting firm The Trade Partnership.

“We’re on the verge of a painful and stupid trade war,” cautioned Sen. Ben Sasse (R-Neb.).

Rivals and allies alike have balked at Trump’s tariffs, prompting the President to praise trade wars as “good and easy to win.”

European officials unveiled a growing list of American goods that they say will be hit with retaliatory tariffs in response to Trump’s penalties.

The chaotic week following the slapdash announcement last week included intense infighting within in White House, pitting hard-liners against free trade advocates such as outgoing economic adviser Gary Cohn.

Markets rattled and reeled in response to the chaos, but leveled out on Thursday thanks to the carve outs for Canada and Mexico. Canada is the top steel exporter to the U.S.

“This is a positive step from the American administration and recognizes Canada’s strategic role in the North American supply base,” said Jean Simard, President and CEO of the Aluminium Association of Canada. “The goal remains to get a full exemption and we shall employ ourselves over the next weeks, together with our Canadian and Quebec governments and our U.S. allies, to find a pathway towards a full and permanent exemption.”

The President first floated the tariffs last week as the White House reeled from a whiplash-inducing round of scandals.

Another feud between Trump and Attorney General Jeff Sessions, the resignation of communications director Hope Hicks, continued controversy surrounding his son-in-law and adviser, Jared Kushner, and signs that special counsel Robert Mueller’s probe is heating up all preceded the sudden announcement.</s>President Donald Trump on Thursday formally ordered new tariffs on steel and aluminum imported into the United States.

In a ceremony at the White House, Trump signed separate proclamations imposing a 25 percent tariff on imported steel and a 10 percent tariff on aluminum imports.

"It's really an assault on our country,” Trump said in remarks about the amount of steel and aluminum imported into the U.S. before he signed the orders.

The tariffs will take effect in 15 days. The proclamations exempt Canada and Mexico, although Trump said this could be rescinded if the White House does not like the outcome of ongoing renegotiations of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). Describing the new rules as “flexible”, Trump said other countries can apply for exemptions.

Currently, about 90 percent of aluminum used in American manufacturing is imported as well as one-third of steel. Industry groups believe consumers will face the brunt of the impact from the tariffs through increased prices for items ranging from beer to cars as well as thousands of other items built of the two metals or packaged inside them.

Trump announced last week that he would implement the tariffs, which led many other Republicans and elements of his own White House to widely criticize the suggestion. Many were concerned the new tariffs could stoke a global trade war.

Gary Cohn, Trump’s top economic advisor, announced his resignation Monday, with White House sources telling media outlets that the decision was based on Trump’s tariff push. Cohn, the former president of Goldman Sachs, was Trump’s director of the National Economic Council and widely seen as a connection between Trump’s administration and Wall Street.

“These so-called ‘flexible tariffs’ are a marriage of two lethal poisons to economic growth – protectionism and uncertainty,” Republican Senator Jeff Flake, who has become known for his denunciation of Trump over the past year, said in a statement immediately after Trump ordered the tariffs.

“Trade wars are not won, they are only lost,” Flake continued. “Congress cannot be complicit as the administration courts economic disaster. I will immediately draft and introduce legislation to nullify these tariffs, and I urge my colleagues to pass it before this exercise in protectionism inflicts any more damage on the economy.”
Citing national security reasons, U.S. President Donald Trump imposes tariffs of 25% on steel and 10% on aluminum imported from most countries. Canada and Mexico are provisionally exempt pending NAFTA renegotiations. The tariffs will take effect on March 23.