Trump lowers – President Donald Trump signed an executive order Monday that lowers tariffs on certain steel, aluminum, and copper imports tied to agricultural and industrial equipment, setting several categories at 15% instead of 25% and extending the lower rate to additiona
By the time Monday’s executive order was issued, the details were already clear: Trump was revising how much import tariffs would cost for parts of the machinery farmers use—exactly the kind of pressure that can translate quickly into higher operating costs.
The order lowers tariffs on agricultural equipment, including combines and harvesters, as well as heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) systems. For those products, the tariff rate drops to 15% from 25%.
Trump also widened the category of industrial equipment covered by a 15% duty rate. Mobile industrial equipment such as bulldozers and forklifts would qualify for the lower 15% tariff when they are imported from countries that have a trade deal with the United States.
Beyond the machinery adjustments, the order spells out a metals-based incentive aimed at other countries. Countries that use at least 85% melted and poured or smelted and cast steel or aluminum by weight could qualify for a lower 10% duty rate—an attempt to push companies abroad to rely more on U.S.-linked metals.
The administration’s timing is immediate. The changes go into effect Monday, are temporary, and are set to expire at the end of 2027. In the order. Trump said. “In my judgment. this temporary modification appropriately accounts for these products’ roles in productive economic activity in the United States.”.
The tariff backdrop is not new. Tariffs on copper, steel, and aluminum were imposed during Trump’s first term in 2018 under Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962, a framework that allows tariffs on imports deemed a threat to national security. Trump renewed those tariffs in April 2025.
Since then, the tariff rates have continued to move. In June 2025, Trump hiked nearly all of his tariffs on steel and aluminum imports to 50% from 25%. Then in April 2026. he set a flat 50% rate for goods made entirely or almost entirely of aluminum. steel. or copper—such as steel coils or aluminum sheet—while implementing a 25% tariff rate for derivative products made “substantially” of steel. aluminum. or copper.
Still. the new order’s effect—especially the lower rates for combines. harvesters. and other equipment—lands at a politically charged moment for agriculture. Barry Appleton. a law professor and co-director of New York Law School’s Center for International Law. said the adjustments appear driven more by midterm politics than by genuine relief for farmers. “Farm bankruptcies are soaring. farm sentiment is declining. and Republican senators are openly warning their party is heading toward midterm losses in key agricultural states. ” he said. “This proclamation is the White House’s response: throw the farm belt a bone before voters go to the polls.”.
Where things stand now is straightforward on paper: multiple tariff rates tied to specific equipment categories fall to 15% from 25%. one broader industrial equipment bucket is extended under trade-deal conditions. and a metals sourcing threshold can lower the duty rate to 10%. But the broader tariff structure remains anchored in the Section 232 framework and the higher rates Trump has set across different metal product categories in the past two years.
Trump tariffs steel aluminum copper Section 232 agricultural equipment combines harvesters HVAC bulldozers forklifts trade deals U.S. metals farm bankruptcies