Trump Administration Import Tariffs Update – What Companies Need to Know

An update to our ongoing insights into the Trump administration’s broad tariffs on imports from Canada, Mexico and China, plus targeted tariffs on key commodities and processed products worldwide.

• Until at least April 2, it is understood that the Canadian and Mexican tariffs will not apply to imports of products that qualify for preferential treatment under the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (“USMCA”).
• The U.S. government is not applying the new Canada tariff to Canadian electricity supplied to the United States.
• The 25% tariffs on steel, steel derivative products, aluminum and aluminum derivative products are in effect. Utility-scale wind towers, also subject to antidumping and countervailing duty orders, are among the aluminum derivative products subject to the new tariffs.
• February 25 and March 1 executive orders announced national security-based investigations of copper products and timber, lumber and certain other wood products. Prior national security‑based investigations of steel and aluminum have led to import tariffs.

Tariffs on Imports from Canada, Mexico and China Under Emergency Authority

• Product Scope Uncertainty: On March 6, President Trump issued Executive Order 14231 and Executive Order 14232 amending the tariffs imposed on Canadian and Mexican products to exclude products that qualify as Canada-origin or Mexico-origin under the USMCA and enter the United States tariff-free under the USMCA. The President announced such exclusions for USMCA-covered products will end on April 2.

  Determining whether the tariffs cover an import from Canada or Mexico requires analysis of whether the imported item qualifies for preferential tariff treatment under the USMCA. To qualify for preferential treatment under the USMCA (under general note 11 to the U.S. tariff schedule), an item must either (i) be produced entirely within Canada and/or Mexico, or (ii) otherwise meet product-specific “rules of origin” requirements under the USMCA. Depending on the circumstances, USMCA rules of origin may qualify merchandise for preferential tariff treatment if (i) its tariff code classification differs from that of inputs used to produce the merchandise, or (ii) a specified percentage of the merchandise’s value is attributable to North American inputs.

  At the same time, the new tariffs generally apply to imported items that are “products of Canada” or “products of Mexico” under standard U.S. customs rules of origin. Under these standard rules of origin, merchandise is normally considered to be the product of the last country in which inputs were “substantially transformed” into the merchandise. It is possible that imports from Canada or Mexico are products of Canada or Mexico under this standard test, but do not qualify for preferential tariff treatment under the USMCA. In these circumstances, the new tariffs would apply, even if the items at issue entered the United States tariff-free prior to implementation of the new tariffs.

• Electrical Power: Consistent with long-standing U.S. practice, it appears that the U.S. government is not collecting the new tariffs on imports of Canadian or Mexican electrical power.

  Still, in retaliation for the Canada import tariff, on March 10 Ontario announced a 25% tax on electricity exported from Ontario to northern U.S. states. Ontario dropped the electricity export tax following threats of a U.S. import tariff increase.

• China Tariff Rate Increase: As noted previously, the administration has increased the across‑the‑board China tariff from 10% to 20%.
• White House Reliance on Emergency Authority: Also as previously noted, the administration declared emergencies relating to the illicit supply of fentanyl and used this authority to impose the Canada, Mexico and China tariffs under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (“IEEPA”), a statute normally invoked as authority for embargoes and other economic sanctions. This is unprecedented. We continue to expect court challenges based on allegations that IEEPA does not authorize the tariffs. But the impetus for such challenges may have dissipated in light of the USMCA-related relaxation of the Canada and Mexico tariffs, as described above.

Commodities Tariffs Under National Security Authority

• Steel and Aluminum: Previously announced 25% tariffs on steel and steel derivative products and on aluminum and aluminum derivative products took effect on March 12.

  Among the aluminum derivative products subject to the new tariff are utility-scale wind towers, which are already subject to antidumping and countervailing duty orders when sourced from Canada, China, Indonesia, South Korea and Vietnam.

• Copper and Wood: On February 25, President Trump issued Executive Order 14220 instructing the Commerce Department to investigate copper imports’ effect on national security under Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act. Likewise, Executive Order 14223 issued on March 1 mandates a Section 232 national security investigation of imports of timber, lumber and other wood products. The Commerce Department is, to issue reports conveying the results of the two Section 232 investigations by November 21, 2025, and November 26, 2025, respectively. It appears likely that these Section 232 investigations will lead to one or both of the tariffs on and quotas for global imports of copper, copper derivative products, logs, lumber and other wood products.