Europe Promises Swift Action Against U.S. Steel Tariffs

---

Written by Martin Lynch, European News Editor for Industrial Info (Galway, Ireland)--The European Union (EU) is prepared to fight back against an executive decision by the U.S. President Donald Trump to impose a 25% tariff on European steel and aluminum imports from March 12.

"Tariffs are taxes--bad for business, worse for consumers," stated European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen. "Unjustified tariffs on the EU will not go unanswered--they will trigger firm and proportionate countermeasures. The EU will act to safeguard its economic interests. We will protect our workers, businesses and consumers. I deeply regret the U.S. decision to impose tariffs on European steel and aluminum exports."

The executive order stated: "As of March 12, 2025, all imports of aluminum articles and derivative aluminum articles from Argentina, Australia, Canada, Mexico, EU countries, and the U.K. shall be subject to the additional ad valorem tariff." A similar statement was made regarding steel. The impact of President's Trump's decision was noted in the markets, with the euro sliding against the dollar, gold prices hitting a new high and a drop in futures trading. Trade group Eurometal said that the U.S. was the second-largest market for EU exports of iron and steel. From January to November last year, the EU's exports of iron and steel products to the U.S. totaled 3.6 million tonnes, according to official statistics from Eurostat.

At the same time the EU imported almost 798,000 tonnes from the U.S. over the same period. The majority of the export volume was flat-rolled steel products and flat-rolled alloy steel products, followed by ferrous scrap 331,081 tonnes. Steel exports to the U.S. are typically worth about 3 billion euro (US$3.1 billion) per year to the EU. Germany is the biggest exporter of steel products to the U.S., accounting for around a quarter of the EU total, and so will be the hardest hit by the new tariffs. Gunnar Groebler, president of the German Steel Association, has called on the EU to act rapidly to head off the situation. "On the one hand, there is now a rapid and consistent adjustment of the protective measures, the so-called EU safeguards. This is because the tariffs on steel announced by the U.S.A. will lead to volumes being diverted to Europe, which will further increase the already existing import pressure due to overcapacity from China. Secondly, we continue to call on the EU to continue to talk to the U.S. about a sectoral agreement. Such a 'Global Arrangement on Steel and Aluminum' could strengthen us Europeans on a variety of levels."

The incoming tariffs look like a rerun of those imposed by President Trump during his first term in office when, in 2018, a similar 25% tariff was imposed on steel and aluminum imports from the EU. At the time it impacted 6.4 billion euro (US6.6 billion) of EU steel and aluminum business. In retaliation, the EC imposed import duties of 25% on a wide range of U.S. exports, ranging from whiskey and tobacco to motorcycles, clothing, steel and foodstuffs. For additional information, see June 11, 2018, article - Europe, Canada Strike Back with Tariffs on U.S. Goods.

Today, Europe's steel industry has 500 production sites spread out across 22 EU member states. It employs 303,000 people directly and supports 2.2 million indirect jobs. Industrial Info is tracking almost 700 projects across Europe's steel and aluminum sectors worth more than US$46 billion in investment. Subscribers to Industrial Info's Global Market Intelligence (GMI) Project Database can click here for the reports.

Even without the impending tariffs, Europe's weakened steel sector has been struggling for years on the global stage. At the start of the year, the European Steel Association, Eurofer, called on the EU for "urgent action" to help protect it from cheap exports and rising electricity costs. It called 2023 "the worst on record for European crude steel production," down 7% compared to 2022 and 17.5% compared to 2021, plummeting to its lowest historical level at 126 million tonnes. Weak demand was exacerbated by a spike in global excess capacity, peaking at 550 million tonnes, and the flooding of the European marketplace with cheap steel from abroad. On the exports front, total EU exports of finished steel have dropped sharply in the past decade to 16 million metric tonnes in 2023, compared to 29 million tonnes in 2014. Over the same period finished steel exports to the U.S. dropped from 3.6 million to 2.2 million tonnes.

Industrial Info Resources (IIR) is the leading provider of industrial market intelligence. Since 1983, IIR has provided comprehensive research, news and analysis on the industrial process, manufacturing and energy related industries. IIR's Global Market Intelligence (GMI) helps companies identify and pursue trends across multiple markets with access to real, qualified and validated plant and project opportunities. Across the world, IIR is tracking over 200,000 current and future projects worth $17.8 Trillion (USD).