section_path: Background
section_name: Background
paragraph_text: Background
  
  Since the 1980s, Trump has advocated for import tariffs as a tool to regulate trade and retaliate against foreign nations that he believes have been disadvantageous to Americans. In his campaigns for the US presidency, Trump promised to use tariffs to achieve a wide range of goals, including preventing war, reducing trade deficits, improving border security, and subsidizing childcare. Although Trump has said foreign countries pay his tariffs, US tariffs are fees paid by US consumers and businesses either directly or in the form of increased prices. He has also claimed that tariff revenues could eventually replace income taxes, however tariffs would only raise $2.4 trillion over the course of a decade, whereas the IRS collects $2 trillion per year; furthermore, tariff revenues would be expected to decrease over time, given a presumed reduction of imports. Shortly after being reelected, Trump acknowledged that tariffs might cause "some pain" for Americans but insisted "it will all be worth the price that must be paid".
  
  In 2018, Trump imposed tariffs on steel and aluminum imports, resulting in price increases for Americans. The World Trade Organization (WTO), a regulator of international trade, ruled some of Trump's first term tariffs that the implementation violated global trade rules. In December 2021, the price of one metric ton of hot-rolled band steel was $1,855 in the US compared to $646 in China and $1,031 in Europe. While he and his first successor, Joe Biden, rolled back some of these tariffs, most remained in place by the start of Trump's second term. Trump also launched a trade war with China which subjected 60% of US-China trade to 20% tariffs and was widely characterized as a failure for the United States.
  
  In May 2019, Trump used tariff threats of up to 25% on Mexico to negotiate an expansion of his " Remain in Mexico " policy and the deployment of Mexican soldiers to help control illegal immigration. Mexico deployed nearly 15,000 troops to its border with the US and 6,500 troops to its border with Guatemala. In 2020, the US, Mexico and Canada renegotiated NAFTA as the United States–Mexico–Canada Agreement (USMCA) and recommitted to 0% tariffs on most products traded between them. Five weeks after the USMCA went into effect, Trump used an exemption for national security concerns to implement a 10% tariff on Canadian aluminum after claiming it was flooding the US market. He withdrew the tariff a month later, three hours before Canada planned to retaliate.