Ahead of the annual conference of the European Steel Association (EUROFER), Geert Van Poelvoorde, president of EUROFER, has stated that the European steel industry condemns the US import tariffs on steel, which will cause a large loss of market share in the US, a market that accounts for 16 percent of EU exports.
According to Mr. Van Poelvoorde, the anticipated loss of export volume due to the tariffs has been modeled by the US as being at least 37 percent. This is a conservative estimate, the actual effect could end up being much larger, he added.
“There is the need to continue discussions with the US to address the root cause of this trade dispute: global steel excess capacity,” suggested Mr. Van Poelvoorde. “We have to deal collectively with countries that subsidize production in order to target export markets, and there are international fora for this process. Unilateral measures are not the answer,” he continued.
The EUROFER president concluded with a call for an EU safeguard to be deployed as quickly as possible since the longer the delay, the greater the injury to the European steel industry will be.