Trump announces 50% steel tariffs and hails ‘blockbuster’ deal with Japan

President tells Pennsylvania rally tariffs will aid workers but questions raised over nature of Nippon Steel investment

Donald Trump announced on Friday he was doubling foreign tariffs on steel imports to 50%, as the president celebrated a blockbuster" agreement for Japan-based Nippon Steel to invest in US Steel during a rally in Pennsylvania.

Surrounded by men in orange hardhats at a US Steel plant in West Mifflin, Trump unveiled the new levies, declaring that the dramatic rate increase would even further secure the steel industry in the United States".