Those rebalancing measures include a mirror 25% tariff on steel and aluminium imports from the US.
In addition, Brussels will impose further countermeasures on the US, targeting approximately €18 billion-worth ($19.6 billion) of goods, which will then apply together with the reimposed measures from 2018.
“The objective is to ensure that the total value of the EU measures corresponds to the increased value of trade affected by the new US tariffs,” a Commission press release read.
“Since the new US tariffs are significantly broader in scope and affect a significantly higher value of European trade, the Commission launched on March 12 a process to impose additional countermeasures on the US,” the Commission said.
The consultation process for additional countermeasures proposed the targeting of industrial products including steel and aluminium products, home appliances, household tools, plastics, wood products, and more.
The countermeasures were expected to enter into force by mid-April.
Trade background
On March 12, 2025, the US imposed 25% tariffs on imports of steel and aluminium products to include those from the EU.
The imposition of tariffs by the US was expected to lead to trade being diverted to new destinations, with steel products flooding toward markets including the EU, undermining local steelmakers and distorting competition.
“[US] President [Donald] Trump’s ‘America First’ policy threatens to be the final nail in the coffin of the European steel industry,” Dr Henrik Adam, president of European steel association Eurofer, said on March 12.
“If European steel disappears, so too does [the] European automotive [industry], European security and defense, energy infrastructure, transportation and others. What is at stake is European sovereignty,” he added.
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“Under the first Trump administration [in the US], we already witnessed the huge effect of Section 232. EU steel exports to the US decreased by more than 1 million tonnes, while of every three tonnes of steel deflected from the US market because of Section 232, two tonnes arrived in the EU,” he said.
“The US tariffs will probably lead to greater global trade imbalances, with steel that would have been shipped to the US going instead to European markets,” Adam said. “The EU was already contending with cheap steel imports – primarily from Asia, North Africa and the Middle East – and the US decision could exacerbate this situation, further damaging the European steel sector.”
The total amount of carbon steel imports to the EU in 2024 was more than 26.36 million tonnes, up by 6.4% compared with 24.78 million tonnes in 2023, Eurofer statistics showed.
At the same time, apparent steel consumption in the bloc amounted to 127 million tonnes in 2024, down by 2.3% from 130 million tonnes in 2023 and lower than during the 2020 pandemic year, when it was 129 million tonnes.
“EU steel production, which lost 9 million tonnes of capacity and 18,000 jobs in 2024 alone, is at even greater risk,” Eurofer said. “There is also the prospect that yet more steel will be deflected to the EU market if additional reciprocal tariffs are imposed by the US.”
Consequently, Eurofer has urged the European Commission to give an adequate response to the US measures to protect the struggling EU steel sector.
“It is crucial that the revised steel EU safeguard measures are robust and effective, to respond immediately and decisively to counter further deflection of the steel imports flooding the EU market. The time has come,” Adam said.
The EU’s existing steel safeguard measures have been extended several times, and were recently subject to a review, with proposed adjustments revealed on March 11. These adjusted measures were expected to come into force in April.
