Global steel giant ArcelorMittal has announced in an open letter published on October 17 that 58 European steel CEOs, including the CEOs of Tata Steel Europe, ThyssenKrupp, Salzgitter and Voestalpine, have called on EU leaders to make the right choices to ensure that the European steel sector and its value chains flourish, that investment continues, and that the jobs of the men and women who work in the sector are sustained. The call comes ahead of a European Council summit on October 20-21, at which all EU members’ heads of state or government will be present and will notably discuss the modernization of Europe’s trade defense instruments, which the European steel industry has consistently pushed for.
The open letter highlights the challenges facing the steel industry and calls on EU policy-makers to develop more effective, faster measures to reestablish fair trade and build an EU Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) that works for those who are part of it, while achieving the ETS objectives of reducing the EU’s greenhouse-gas emissions.