Day: 25 February 2026

Any EU-US trade agreement must result in “balanced market conditions” for industry in both jurisdictions, says Eurofer, with discussions on the EU-US trade agreement due to take place in the European Parliament’s International Trade Committee (INTA) on Tuesday. This comes after data showed EU steel exports to the US plunged 30% on-year in the second half of 2025.

“A 30% drop in steel exports to the US within just six months is a clear signal that the blunt 50% tariffs imposed by the US government on EU steel are damaging our industry. The US decision to include EU downstream steel products, such as machinery, will have another huge negative impact on us and our European customers,” Eurofer director general Axel Eggert says in a note sent to Kallanish.

The EU-US deal must be “fair, reciprocal and enforceable,” Eggert notes. “But so far, we are still waiting to hear whether the arrangement will secure meaningful EU steel access to the US market or a joint response to global steel overcapacity.”

According to the latest available Eurostat data verified by Kallanish, EU steel exports to the US of finished carbon steel – excluding pipe – under HS code headings 7208-7217 fell 37% on-year in July-November 2025 to 503,659 tonnes. Overall exports of chapter 72 iron and steel fell 30% to 1.05 million tonnes.

Eurofer says the steel industry welcomes recent proposals in the European Parliament to introduce review and response mechanisms within the EU-US arrangement to ensure that European industry can respond if tariff levels remain elevated or increase in the future.

While the new steel trade regime should be in place from 1 July, steel intensive downstream products must also be shielded from trade diversion and global overcapacity, it adds. The risk of trade diversion through steel-intensive downstream products has increased significantly over the past decade, Eurofer concludes.

European Association of Automotive Suppliers (CLEPA) is calling on the European Commission to take decisive action to support the sector suppliers against mounting unfair competition.

Ahead of the anticipated publication of the Industrial Accelerator Act, CLEPA’s president, Matthias Zink, and vice-presidents, Iñigo Laskurain, Jean-Luc di Paola Galloni, and Marco Stella, have issued an open letter urging President Ursula von der Leyen to act, Kallanish notes.

While welcoming global trade, they warn that distortive subsidies, state-backed overcapacity and unilateral tariffs are placing European automotive suppliers at a structural disadvantage.

“Without intervention, the EU risks trading its technological sovereignty for permanent dependency on regions with lower costs and weaker regulations. A clear and ambitious definition of the ‘European vehicle’ is essential to ensure that the value of the mobility transformation remains anchored in Europe,” it claims.

According to CLEPA, to bolster industrial resilience and sustain high-quality jobs, the Industrial Accelerator Act must include a 75% local content threshold at the vehicle level for public support (excluding batteries), targeted and gradual thresholds for critical technologies such as electric powertrains and electrical & electronic components. “Europe’s automotive suppliers are currently investing heavily in decarbonisation and digitalisation. A clear and ambitious definition of a ‘European vehicle’ is key to ensuring that the mobility transformation and the value and jobs it creates, remains anchored in Europe,” it adds.

The letter also calls for the restoration of a level playing field, with international trade remaining fair.

“The signs are evident in the trade balance sheets of 2025. Imports of automotive components from China have reached €8.2 billion ($9.6 billion). We have witnessed a startling reversal: a comfortable trade surplus of nearly €7 billion just five years ago has declined into a deficit of €0.7 billion. Strikingly, this shift concerns traditional automotive components, segments in which Europe has historically been a dominant player,” it notes.

“If we allow our value chains to erode, we will lose factories but also our strategic autonomy and risk trading European technological sovereignty for a permanent dependency on lower-cost and less regulated regions,” CLEPA concludes.

The European Carbon Borden Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) and the proposed safeguard changes are giving additional momentum to GravitHy’s plans to build a low-carbon hot-briquetted iron plant in Fos-sur-Mer, southern France, Kallanish learns from the company. 

GravitHy chief executive José Noldin was present at the public consultation meeting held in Fos-sur-Mer earlier this month. He confirms to Kallanish that several million euros have already been invested, as the project enters a concrete implementation phase. The project “is going forward gradually and steadily… CBAM and safeguards are creating some momentum,” he comments.

Towards the end of this year the firm will file permit applications and expects to be granted all major authorisations, according to a public consultation report. The first quarter of 2027 will be dedicated to the final investment decision. The construction phase is scheduled to run from 2027 to 2029, with industrial testing starting from mid-2029. First production is targeted for 2030.

The hydrogen-based HBI plant will have a capacity of 2 million tonnes/year by 2030. During the meeting, questions were raised regarding the cost of hydrogen, the project’s profitability and the market’s ability to absorb a low-carbon product. GravitHy states that pricing details remain confidential but notes that the economic analysis has been sufficient to secure investor backing.

“Projections show that by 2030, the cost of a green product could align with that of a conventional product, notably thanks to the availability and competitive pricing of low-carbon electricity in the region,” the consultation document states.

Meanwhile, Jacques Yves Floch, the ceo of the Marcegaglia plant in Fos-sur-Mer, outlined the progress of the Mistral project, Marcegaglia’s future coil plant in the region. Antonio Marcegaglia confirms to Kallanish that the Mistral expansion project will increase the current plant’s output from 200,000t to 2.15m t/y of coil.

Logistics is a key factor for the site’s competitiveness. Marcegaglia confirms he intends to limit road transport and prioritise rail and inland waterway solutions for raw materials sourcing. Scrap supplies will be sourced predominantly from Europe, particularly from France and northern Europe. The plant currently produces bearings and engineering steels, including ingots, billets and blooms.

The GravitHy and Mistral projects are closely linked. Marcegaglia is an investor in GravitHy and is set to become an off-taker for the project’s output (see Kallanish passim).