US President Donald Trump announced on May 31 that the temporary exemptions of the European Union (EU) countries from the Section 232 tariffs and quotas have been canceled. In the meantime, EU Commissioner for Trade Cecilia Malmström announced yesterday, June 20, that the European Union (EU) will impose additional customs duties on certain US products as of June 22. This announcement has inflicted a heavy blow to US-EU trade. According to the commission’s statement, the list of US imports that will now face an extra duty at the EU border includes steel and aluminum products.
Meanwhile, Spanish rebar producers, who were already searching for alternative export markets, have switched their focus to the Asian markets and have started to evaluate the price inquiries they have received from these markets. However, as Spanish rebar producers have not received orders from Algeria for a long time now, they are mostly focused on their domestic market instead of on exports after they were forced to leave the US market. Meanwhile, Spanish rebar exporters’ offers to the international markets have remained stable week on week at €480-490/mt ($557-568/mt) FOB.
€1 = $1.16