Following US President Trump’s signing of the order to impose a 25 percent tariff on steel imports from all countries, exempting Mexico and Canada for now, but including EU countries, the European Steel Association (EUROFER) has stated that it firmly condemns the decision by the US president as being damaging and counterproductive for both the US and EU economies.
“The US measure baselessly includes EU producers, who will suffer significantly from the loss of one of their major export markets. The national security justification the president has used - and the linking of these tariffs to NATO funding - is an absurdity,” stated Axel Eggert, director general of EUROFER.
According to EUROFER, the US imports around 35 million mt of steel per year. The concern for EU steel producers is not only the potential loss of access to a market with which they have strong commercial links, but even more that trade deflection towards the EU's open market will be large and sudden.
“The loss of exports to the US, combined with an expected massive import surge in the EU could cost tens of thousands of jobs in the EU steel industry and related sectors. Ironically, estimates also show that the US could also suffer a net loss of jobs as a result of the measure,” emphasized Mr. Eggert.
EUROFER also stated that the EU has long been a fair and reliable supplier of high quality steels to the US market. European trade in steel is neither dumping nor a threat to US national security by any stretch, EUROFER said.
“The very real risk of trade deflection will require the EU to react with contingency safeguards to ward off any import surge caused by the Section 232 tariffs,” added Mr. Eggert, who concluded by saying that EUROFER welcomed the announcement by the European Commission that it would act immediately to defend its industry.