WASHINGTON — The Commerce Department has urged President Donald Trump to consider hefty tariffs and quotas to limit the import of steel and aluminum, after concluding that the rising flow of those foreign-made products is a threat to America’s national security.

The recommendations were contained in a report released by Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross, whose agency used a rarely used provision of U.S. trade law to investigate whether steel and aluminum imports could pose harm to the country’s defense or security interests.

Trump has promised to take more aggressive trade actions to protect American manufacturers, and the findings by the Commerce Department give the president wide discretion to curb imports, although he could decide not to take any action. Trump has until mid-April to decide.

Domestic steel and aluminum manufacturers, and lawmakers from big steel-producing states, have pressed Trump to apply stiff measures against foreign producers, particularly China.

The department’s recommendations to Trump listed three options for steel: a 24 percent tariff on all imports from all countries; a targeted tariff of at least 53 percent on imports from a dozen trading partners, plus quotas on steel shipments from other nations; or a global quota that equals 63 percent of each country’s steel exports to the U.S. in 2017.

Ross also recommended three options on aluminum tariffs and quotas, although they were less restrictive.