The customs duties agreement between the EU and the United States leaves the European steel and aluminum industries in agitation, despite an initiative mentioned on both sides of the Atlantic against the global overcapacity of the steel industry.
The American-European framework agreement “limits damage to current circumstances”, but “uncertainty remains for the European steel industry,” said Axel Eggert, general manager of the Association of European Steel Manufacturers, Eurofer.
European Steel has been presented since the beginning of June to the 50% customs tasks when entering the United States.
Donald Trump ready to commit
According to Washington, these taxes “remain unchanged” at this stage, but the United States intends to “discuss” with the EU “of the safety of supply chains” for these products.
However, on the side of the European Commission, we ensure that Donald Trump is ready for a commitment: the 50% tax would only apply beyond a certain volume of exports.
“Reduce barriers” between the United States and the EU, which faces the “external challenge of excess global production capacity”, customs prices will be reduced “and a quota system will be established,” said the president of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen.
In front of low -cost metals, often subsidized from China, Southeast Asia, North Africa and the Middle East, the European Union and the United States “will work together to guarantee a balanced global competition,” he said. “With respect to steel and metals, we are not the problem of the other,” added Commissioner Maros Sefcovic.
A hope welcomed by Eurofer: “If zero customs duties about our traditional exports to the United States were confirmed, we would go in the right direction. But there is still no clarity, and the devil is still in detail,” said its general director, in a statement from the organization.
Hundreds of thousands of threatened jobs
Even the rights of 15% who will weigh on finished products constitute a “huge weight” for European steel, emphasize Eurofer, European exports on the other side of the Atlantic are “steel intensive”, such as the car and tools.
Of the 760,000 European vehicles exported in 2024 to the United States, which represent “around 1 million tons of steel”, a significant part could “disappear,” the association estimates.
For several months, social plans have been announced in the steel industry in Europe, which represents about 310,000 direct jobs and 2.2 million indirect, and constitutes an essential link in the car, energy, construction and defense.
The European steel industry has already lost “a million tons of export” to the United States since 2018, when Trump’s first administration had imposed 25% of customs duties in steel and 10% in aluminum.
European manufacturers “cannot wait any longer,” Axel Eggert warns, which requests that the “Action Plan for Steel” promised by the commission for September is “highly effective” and makes it possible to execute the factories of the old continent in 80 to 85% of its capacities, comparable levels in the United States, instead of 58% today, a situation considered innate by the industry.
Eleven European countries ask the EU to limit imports
At the same time, eleven steel producing countries (Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Spain, France, Greece, Italy, Luxembourg, Poland, Romania, Slovakia) asked the EU on Monday to establish “as soon as possible” a “commercial protective framework of the European steel industry” to limit imports of January 1, January 1, 2026 The dimensions of 2018.
On the aluminum side, the Turkish merchant AC Metals emphasizes a note that American customs duties create a “turbulent environment” and lead to a “global repositioning” of the market.
In France, manufacturers are concerned about the fact that the agreement does not provide customs tariffs on imports of aluminum waste used to manufacture recycled aluminum, while a tax is applicable to primary metal imports.
“Europe needs to decarbonize its industry and greatly need its automobile aluminum waste or drink cans, to recycle it. We ask the commission that prohibits exports of European waste that, if not, risk crossing the Atlantic to be recycled,” Cyrille Mounier, a France aluminum delegate, told AFP.
Source: BFM TV
