Following the US Department Commerce’s submission of the results of the Section 232 investigation to US President Donald Trump, the European Steel Association (EUROFER) has stated that the EU steel industry has been a long-term and reliable supplier of high quality steels to the US, sending just under three million metric tons of steel there in the first ten months of 2017. Only a small fraction of this has any foreseeable defense application, but even then, the US and the EU member states are NATO allies, EUROFER pointed out. EUROFER noted that any restriction of steel imports from the EU based on Section 232 would undermine this partnership. There are no grounds to suggest that EU steel poses a threat to US national security.
EUROFER also stated that it hopes that President Trump will instead focus on supporting the efforts of the G20 Global Forum on Excess Steel Capacity - rather than applying blanket measures taking national security as a pretext.