The pain won’t just be felt by foreign steel and aluminum plants. The tariffs will likely drive up costs for American companies that use the metals, such as automakers, construction firms and beverage makers that use cans. The threats to the economy have rattled stock markets.

By mid-2019, the tariffs were lifted for Canadian and Mexican imports, which accounted for 27% of the U.S.’s steel imports and 43% of its aluminum imports. The Biden administration later ended tariffs on European Union metals in 2021, amid record-high steel prices fueled by COVID-19 supply chain disruptions.