President Donald Trump has said he will sign off on steep tariffs on steel and aluminium imports next week, hitting producers like Canada and China.
Flanked by US metals executives at the White House, he said a 25% tariff would be placed on steel products, and a 10% tariff would be imposed on aluminium.
Mr Trump tweeted that the US was suffering from "unfair trade".
The US imports four times more steel than it exports, and is reliant on steel from more than 100 nations.
In Thursday's announcement, Mr Trump promised to rebuild the American steel and aluminium industries, which he said had suffered "disgraceful" treatment from other countries for decades.
"And when it comes to a time when our country can't make aluminium and steel - and somebody said it before and I will tell you - you almost don't have much of a country, because without steel and aluminium your country is not the same.
"We need great steel makers, great aluminium makers for defence."
Citing China, Mr Trump said "we haven't been treated fairly by other countries".
He spoke as Chinese economic adviser Liu He, a friend of Chinese President Xi Jinping, visited the White House.
Mr Liu was due to meet separately with one of the US president's top economic advisers, Gary Cohn.
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