The U.S. Treasury Secretary defends the increase in steel tariffs for job security.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Sunday that the steel tariffs imposed by the Donald Trump administration will have a "significant impact on the steel industry" by ensuring job security for American steelworkers.

The U.S. president announced Friday that the increase in steel tariffs from 25% to 50% will take effect next Wednesday, June 4, and clarified that the increase also applies to aluminum.

Bessent said today on CBS's "Face the Nation" that it's still unclear how the tariffs, which will likely lead to higher steel prices in the United States, will affect the construction industry, as it is a "very complex ecosystem."

According to Bessent, the tariffs are necessary because "there are national security priorities to having a strong steel industry."

Trump noted this week that he initially considered raising these taxes to 40%, but industry executives asked him to raise them to 50%.

Trump's announcement came just one day after an appeals court lifted the Court of International Trade's blockade of much of the U.S. tariff policy on imports from numerous countries.

This blockade would not have affected the steel tariffs, but rather those announced on April 2, which consist of a global 10% tariff on virtually all US trading partners.

Furthermore, it also reportedly blocked a proportion—which was frozen until July for the signing of agreements—that varies by country, depending on deficits and trade volumes, and which the White House labeled "reciprocal tariffs."