US President Donald Trump is planning to scale back some tariffs on steel and aluminium goods, the Financial Times reported on Friday, citing people familiar with the matter.
Trump hit steel and aluminium imports with tariffs of up to 50% in 2025, including the country rate on the non-steel and non-aluminium content. The administration is now reviewing the list of products affected by the levies and plans to exempt some items, halt the expansion of the lists and instead launch more targeted national security probes into specific goods, according to the FT report.
The development comes against the backdrop of a New York Fed study, which found that Americans — businesses and citizens alike — paid nearly 90% of the cost of Trump tariffs. That undercuts the president’s claim that foreign firms would bear the burden.
In the first eight months of 2025, 94% of the cost had been passed through to US businesses and consumers. That fell to 92% in September-October and 86% in November.
“The tariff pass-through into import prices has declined in the latter part of the year,” the study stated. “That is, a larger share of the tariff incidence was borne by foreign exporters by the end of the year.”
The report comes as the president’s tariff regime comes under fire from a number of angles. A Supreme Court ruling on a case challenging the president’s ability to impose the levies is expected imminently.