Ahead of the European Council meeting to be held in Brussels on March 22-23, in light of US President Trump’s 25 percent import tariffs on steel, the European Steel Association (EUROFER) has called on EU member states to stand united in backing a broad, firm and decisive response to safeguard the viability of the EU steel industry and its 320,000 jobs.
Axel Eggert, director general of EUROFER, stated that the EU and the US have close economic, political, military and cultural ties and the European steel has always been a reliable supplier to US steel users, adding that the Section 232 measures fly in the face of this close partnership.
“We are already seeing the effects of Trump’s announcement. In the first two months of this year imports surged by 12 percent over and above the historic highs of 2016-2017,” stated Mr. Eggert.
According to EUROFER, this rise is on top of the 65 percent rise seen over the past five years. Steel imports into the EU have now reached 40 million mt, making the EU by far the largest steel import market in the world, even before the US tariffs came into being. For certain products, such as rebar, the import surge has already been as much as 75 percent.
“The deflection of steel trade flows to Europe would badly hurt us and sectors related to us. Clear and immediate decisions need to be taken by EU leaders to prevent this injury. What we need now is comprehensive safeguard measures that limit imports of all steel products covered by the US measures to the levels of the past few years,” emphasized Mr. Eggert.
EUROFER stated that it advocates safeguards that cover the scope of the steel products covered by the US measures. According to EUROFER, all of these product categories will suffer trade deflection, up to an estimated total of 13 million mt, possibly straight on to the open EU market. A quota safeguard would ensure the EU market remains open but avoid the risks of inundation by deflected steel, EUROFER stated.
The EUROFER director general also stated that the EU must continue to demand full exclusion from the US measures.