Bernd Debusmann Jr
Reporting from the White House

Image source, Getty Images

As we've reported today, one of the executive orders that Trump plans to sign today involve plastic straws - a topic which has been a long-running concern for the US President.

With today's EO, Trump is reportedly planning on undoing an environmental push from his predecessor, Joe Biden, to replace plastic straws across the federal government by 2035.

On his Truth Social social media platform last week, Trump said he would move to end the "ridiculous" campaign against plastic straws.

In a separate post, he encouraged people to enjoy their beverages "without a straw that disgustingly dissolves in your mouth."

During his electoral campaign ahead of the 2020 election - which he ultimately lost - Trump "Trump" branded plastic straws were sold by his campaign - at $15 for 10 - as a replacement for "liberal" paper straws.

A number of US cities and states - including Seattle, California, Oregon and New Jersey - have adopted rules that limit the use of single-use plastic straws or require that businesses provide them only after being asked by customers.

"I do think we have bigger problems than plastic straws," Trump told reporters at the White House in 2019. "You have a little straw, but what about the plates, the wrappers and everything else that are much bigger and they're made of the same material?"

Simon Atkinson
Australia producer, BBC News

An exemption from tariffs for Australian steel and aluminium sold to the US is "under consideration" Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has just said.

Albanese said he has had “a great conversation” with US President Donald Trump.

Speaking after the call at a press conference, Albanese stressed the importance of Australian steel for the US construction industry and pointed out that Aussie steel firm Bluescope was a major investor into the United States.

Australia is trying to get an exemption from Trump's proposed tariff of 25% on steel imports, as it managed to do in 2017 during Trump‘s first presidency

Former Trump economic adviser Stephen Moore spoke with the BBC's Sumi Somaskanda a little while ago about Donald Trump's recent threats to impose new tariffs.

Moore says everything Trump "does in Washington is a negotiating tactic", so the president's tariff push is his attempt to create a level playing field in international trade.

Moore says the president's push, particularly on steel tariffs, is his strategy to promote steel jobs in the US.

But Moore told the BBC, he doesn't think it's the most effective strategy.

The first Trump administration attempted steel tariffs as well, but Moore says he thinks it wasn't as productive: "We cost ourselves a lot of jobs in manufacturing, in auto production, because the steel was more expensive".

"Some studies show that for every steel job that we create, we lose two or three or four jobs in other associated industries that you steal," Moore says. "So I'm not sure that this is a good jobs programme for the United States."

Bernd Debusmann Jr
Reporting from the White House

In an interview with Fox News filmed on Sunday and set to air later, US President Donald Trump briefly touched upon his relationship with Vice President JD Vance.

He was asked if he views Vance as his successor. "No," Trump responded

"But he's very capable. But you have a lot of very capable people."

Trump added, "So far he is doing a fantastic job".

"It's too early," he said. "We're just starting."

The Steel Manufacturers Association in the US has told the BBC they applaud President Trump's decision to put tariffs on steel entering the US.

Philip K. Bell, president of the Steel Manufacturers Association, the largest member organisation for the industry in the United States spoke with our colleagues on the World Service's Newshour a little earlier today.

"The Steel Manufacturers Association thinks the president has made a very good decision and we applaud him for it.

"I think [...] it will level the playing field with our trading partners and it will stop unfair trade practices and market distorting practices from countries that basically sell steel for less than market value – it’s often subsidised and it’s often done in a way that undermines our workers and our country.

"It's our hope that these tariffs will incentivise our trade partners in Canada and Mexico to make sure they're not aiding and abetting the unfair trade practices of countries like China and others."

You can listen to the full episode for more.

Canadian Parliament member of Kody Blois says Trump's imposition of steel and aluminium tariffs will "completely upend" the relationship between Canada and the US.

Canada exports the most steel and aluminium to the US out of all countries.

Blois, a Liberal Party MP in Nova Scotia, told the BBC Newshour Trump has "completely changed" US-Canada relations in just a few short weeks.

“The genie is out of the bottle," he told Newshour. "We want to make sure we continue to have a strong economic partnership with the United States, but my constituents are expecting that Canada will be not only more self-sufficient, but that we will find other trading partners around the world to reduce our dependency on the United States."

One day on from a big US Superbowl weekend, what happened with Taylor Swift and what was her reaction?

We also hear Donald Trump defending Elon Musk in his traditional pre-game interview, and him telling Americans to expect further cuts to the federal government - particularly within education and the military.

Marianna, Anthony and Sarah join Matt Chorley to talk about the potential fallout from those cuts, plus allegations of political censorship at TikTok, tariffs on aluminium, and who is really behind Trump’s policies.

You can find out more on the latest episode of Americast.

President Trump indicated on Sunday that he would be impose a 25% tariff on all steel and aluminium entering the US.

While we're waiting to hear further details from the White House, let's look at how this news has been received internationally.

• Mexico narrowly avoided unrelated tariffs from Trump just last week. President Sheinbaum said first they heard of new steel and aluminium tariffs was via the media
• China has called for the US to "stop politicising and weaponising economic and trade issues"
• The European Commission has said it sees "no justification" for the move and outlined it would "react" to protect businesses workers and consumers from "unjustified measures"
• In Canada, the premier of Ontario, Doug Ford, accused the president of"shifting goalposts". Along with Mexico, Canada came to an agreement with Trump last week on separate tariffs

Simon Atkinson
Australia producer, BBC News

Image source, Getty Images

As Prime Minister during Donald Trump’s first spell in the White House, Malcolm Turnbull was able to convince the president to give Australia an exemption from aluminium and steel tariffs in 2017.

But as the current PM Anthony Albanese prepares for an imminent phone call with President Trump to ask for the same, Turnbull says there’s a decent chance a similar deal just won’t be possible this time.

"He (Trump) believes if a country has a … trade deficit, it's a loser. If it has a trade surplus, it's a winner,” he told the Australia Broadcasting Corporation’s 7.30 programme.

"It's economic nonsense, obviously, but he's believed it for decades — and he's now surrounded by people who will support him."

He urged Albanese to be strong, “use all of his advocacy skills… and defend the Australian national interest”, calling President Trump a “bully”.

Australia's steel and iron exports to the United States were worth $237m (£191m) in 2023 according to Trading Economics.

Under an existing free trade deal, 96.1% of Australian exports to the US are currently tariff free according to stats from Canberra, but Turnbull says Australia can’t rely on that relationship.

"After you see what he did with Canada and Mexico… Trump basically is saying 'might is right.'"

Bernd Debusmann Jr
Reporting from the White House

Trump's planned executive order signings today have been delayed until later this afternoon, the BBC understands.

According to the public schedule released by the White House earlier today, the Oval Office event was originally slated to take place at 13:00 EST (18:00 GMT).

The reasons for the delay are unclear.

Among the executive orders Trump is expected to sign is one mandating the end to an effort to replace plastic straws with eco-friendly paper straws in the US government.

Ritika Gupta
North America business correspondent, reporting from New York

In 2018, the first Trump administration imposed a 10% duty on imported aluminium and 25% on steel. The purpose was to support domestic production and make the industries more self-reliant.

However in 2024, the output of the US steel industry was 1% lower than in 2017, before the first round of tariffs by Trump. While the aluminium industry produced almost 10% less.

Other factors, including rising labour and energy costs, contributed to the slowdown.

While the new tariffs may increase production, there are implications for the broader economy. The US relies on imports to meet the large demand for these metals, which are used in everything from construction to packaging.

Analysts say that US steel mills, which currently run under capacity, will need to ramp up production to compensate for fewer imports.

While tariffs can support domestic producers, the risk is they will ultimately be inflationary and hurt American consumers.

Theo Leggett
BBC International Business Correspondent

The US is a key market for the UK steel industry. It accounts for about 10% of exports overall, but for some suppliers of speciality products it is much more important than that, making up a large proportion of their overall business.

When President Trump imposed 25% tariffs on steel imports during his first presidency, in 2018, it was described as a “hammer blow” by the industry association UK Steel. Exports to the US did fall sharply, from nearly 310,000 tonnes in 2017 to just 153,000 by 2020.

In 2022, the Biden administration introduced an olive branch, creating a tariff free quota for the UK of 500,000 tonnes. This did provoke a short-term improvement. However, UK Steel says other factors, notably the energy crisis that followed Russia’s invasion of Ukraine stifled the recovery.

The UK industry has had to cope with high energy costs, which have made its products more expensive and less competitive globally.

If Trump were to abolish the current quotas, it would certainly be a blow to the industry. But for a number of years, US firms have also been allowed to import specialist steel products that are not available in the US tariff-free, outside of the quota system.

If these exemptions were to be removed as well, it would have a very serious impact on specialist firms in the UK that have previously benefitted from them.

Another worry for the UK industry is how US tariffs would affect the global steel market as a whole. If exporters from China and East Asia were to find the US market unprofitable, they would look for other places to sell products.

This could lead to the UK market being swamped with cheap steel imports, making life even more difficult for local producers.

We expect Donald Trump to sign executive orders shortly at the White House. But we're now hearing steel and aluminium tariffs may not be included in this latest batch.

It's unclear what executive orders the president is about to sign, or whether he will sign more orders later today that address tariffs on the metals.

Stick with us for the latest.

The acting director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) has told the agencies' workers not to come into the office or perform any work without permission.

Russell Vought has moved quickly in seeking to halt the majority of the agency's work - he was only appointed to the role on Friday.

The CFPB was set up in the wake of the 2007- 2008 financial crisis, with the stated aim of protecting consumers. It was spearheaded in part by the work of Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren.

The White House released a statement on Monday describing the bureau as "another woke, weaponized arm of the bureaucracy".

They also pinned blame on Warren, calling the agency her "brainchild".

"President Trump campaigned on lowering costs. But he’s letting billionaire Elon Musk and Project 2025 Architect Russ Vought kill the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau," the Massachusetts senator wrote on X. "If they succeed, CEOs on Wall Street will once again be free to cheat you out of your savings."

• Read more: Musk's Doge takes aim at US consumer protection agency

As we've been reporting, Trump has announced plans to impose 25% tariffs on all steel and aluminium imports, and he's expected to sign an executive order to that effect later today.

Earlier we talked you through which countries supply the most steel to the US - now we're going to take a closer look at aluminium imports.

Of all the countries that supply aluminium to the US, Canada delivers by far the most - around ten times the country in second place, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), according to figures from the US Department of Commerce.

And because Canada supplies more than half the US's aluminium imports, it is also the country that will be hit hardest by a 25% tariff.

We're hearing now that Mexico found out about Trump's anticipated announcement on steel tariffs via the media yesterday.

A little earlier, the European Union said they hadn't received any official notification of new tariffs - you can read about that in our previous post.

As a reminder, it was only last week that Trump and Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum reached an agreement whereby 25% tariffs on imports from the country would be paused for 30 days.

Both then and now, Sheinbaum has insisted the country will act with a "cool head".

Bernd Debusmann Jr
Reporting from the White House

Image source, Getty Images

Last week, Donald Trump touched upon another steel issue that his administration is dealing with: the $14.9bn (£12bn) bid by Japan's Nippon Steel to acquire US Steel.

The deal - previously blocked by President Joe Biden on national security grounds - would create one of the largest steel companies in the world.

Trump - who mistakenly referred to the firm as "Nissan", like the car company - said that it would drop the bid, and would instead "invest heavily" in the company without taking a majority stake.

Neither company has commented on the deal and no further details were provided. Trump said he would meet with the head of Nippon Steel to "mediate and arbitrate" the deal.

The announcement came as Trump met with Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba.

Asked about the possibility of US tariffs - and counter-tariffs - Ishiba declined to provide details.

"I am unable to respond to a theoretical question," he said, eliciting laughs from Trump and journalists in the room. "That's the official answer we have."

Privately, Japanese officials told reporters that they would analyse the potential of new US policies - including on the steel industry - before determining a course of action.

Who pays the price of higher tariffs?published at 17:23 Greenwich Mean Time 10 February

17:23 GMT 10 February

By Ben Chu

Studies of the tariffs that President Trump imposed in his first term as president suggest that much of the economic burden was ultimately borne by US consumers, external.

A survey by the University of Chicago, external in September 2024 asked a group of economists whether they agreed with the statement that "imposing tariffs results in a substantial portion of the tariffs being borne by consumers of the country that enacts the tariffs, through price increases". Only 2% disagreed.

For example, Trump imposed a 50% tariff on imports of washing machines in 2018 and researchers estimate thevalue of washing machines jumped, external by around 12% as a direct consequence, equivalent to $86 (£69) per unit.

That meant US consumers paid around $1.5bn extra a year in total for these products.

• You can read more of our analysis on whether tariffs will negatively impact US consumers here.

Image source, EPA

According to his public schedule, Donald Trump will be signing executive orders in the Oval Office from 13:00 ET (18:00 GMT).

As we've reported, at least one of these orders is likely to be an imposition of tariffs on steel and aluminium imports coming into the United States.

Executive orders are written missives issued by the president which do not require congressional approval. Orders range from dramatic reverses of policy, like Trump's approval for the construction of two bitterly contested oil pipelines in 2017, to ordinary business - such as Barack Obama's instructions on half-day closing for government departments, external.

Ritika Gupta
North America Business Correspondent

Stocks in the US and Europe are trading higher on Monday, as traders appear to shake off the latest US tariff threat from President Donald Trump. Tech shares, the most influential equity group, are leading the gains.

Meanwhile, steel and aluminium stocks are bouncing higher, with US steel Nucor, Cleveland-Cliffs and Alcoa among the gainers. This comes after Trump announced plans to impose 25% tariffs on all steel and aluminium imports.

While you might think this news would send stocks falling – Wall Street is taking it in stride, so far. It’s still uncertain whether Trump will follow through on these threats, as we saw with Canada and Mexico, whereby he announced, then paused tariffs, while proceeding with a 10% levy on all shipments from China.