Trump made an informal announcement Thursday, declaring that the United States would soon be setting a 25 percent tariff on imported steel and a 10 percent tariff on imported aluminum. The tariffs would not target a specific country, just the two specific goods.

The United States is the world’s largest importer of steel, importing roughly 27 million metric tons of steel in 2017 towards usage in a variety of industries, including construction, transportation, and energy. Alternatively, the United States imports close to 7 million metric tons of aluminum, which represents about 90 percent of America’s aluminum consumption, in order to produce everything from weaponry to beer cans.

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