US import costs of steel and aluminium, used in everything from baseball bats to cars and aircraft parts, are expected to rise by more than $100bn after Donald Trump raised tariffs on the metals to 50 per cent this week.

Another is that tariffs on “intermediate” goods, such as raw materials used to make other things, affect consumer prices indirectly. Even service industries depend on imported goods—think of lawyers using smartphones or computers made abroad.

U.S. President Donald Trump’s 50% tariffs on imported steel and aluminum took effect early Wednesday. So what’s the current state of all the Trump levies?

Marketplace has been following Lei’s business since 2018, just before President Trump imposed tariffs in his first term. Not only did his business survive the extra levies, but Lei said the percentage of his sales to the U.S. went up from 50% in 2018 to 70% at the start of this year.

President Donald Trump and his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, have spoken amid stalled negotiations between both countries over tariffs that have roiled global trade

The rare leader-to-leader call confronted weeks of brewing trade tensions and a battle over critical minerals but left key issues to further talks.

The U.S. trade deficit narrowed significantly in April as President Donald Trump sharply escalated tariffs before pausing a large swath of the levies, U.S. Commerce Department data on Thursday showed.

The US trade deficit more than halved in April as President Donald Trump's global tariffs reversed an import surge that preceded the new duties.