By mid-2019, the tariffs were lifted for Canadian and Mexican imports, which accounted for 27% of the U.S.’s steel imports and 43% of its aluminum imports. The Biden administration later ended tariffs on European Union metals in 2021, amid record-high steel prices fueled by COVID-19 supply chain disruptions.

It was the Gilded Age, a time of rapid population growth and transformation from an agricultural economy toward a sprawling industrial system, when poverty was widespread while barons of phenomenal wealth, like John D. Rockefeller and J.P. Morgan, held tremendous sway over politicians who often helped boost their financial empires.

Trump's action to bulk up protections for American steel and aluminum producers restores effective global tariffs of 25% on all imports of the metals.