European steelmakers’ association Eurofer says it is expecting the EU to urgently revise the existing safeguard regime in response to recently announced tariffs by the US on steel imports, Kallanish notes.
The association expects “the revision of the current EU safeguard regime with impactful measures as a matter of urgency to reflect the dramatic market and trade conditions,” Eurofer president Henrik Adam notes.
Earlier on Tuesday, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said the unjustified tariffs will trigger “firm and proportionate countermeasures”.
The Eurofer statement says the safeguards set up in 2018 in response to Section 232 have lost their effectiveness in the years since due to the increase of quotas despite decreasing demand. This has allowed imports to gain significant market share.
It is also calling for the continuation of a comprehensive tariffication system as an absolute necessity, due to the current EU safeguards ending in June 2026. Global steel excess capacity is meanwhile worsening and steel protectionism is increasing worldwide.
“Without an immediate tightening of the current safeguard quota regime, the deflection provoked by the new US steel tariffs will inevitably push EU steel capacity into additional idling and, ultimately, closure,” says Adam.
Eurofer notes that in 2024 alone, the EU steel industry closed 9 million tonnes/year of capacity.
“The Executive Order by President Trump will inevitably further exacerbate the situation,” Adam adds.
Under the current implementation of Section 232 tariffs, European steel producers have had exemptions and the European Commission negotiated a tariff rate quota (TRQ). Despite exemptions and the TRQ, EU-origin steel imports into the US decreased by over 1 million tonnes/year, Eurofer says.
If all product exemptions and TRQs are now removed, the EU could lose up to 3.7m t/y of steel exports to the US. The US is the second-largest export market for EU steel producers, representing 16% of total EU steel exports in 2024.
The association adds this could risk significant trade flow deviations, with volumes usually sent to the US now likely to be massively diverted into the European market.
“Already today, global steel overcapacity is being off-loaded massively on the vulnerable EU steel market at very cheap prices, mainly from Asia, North Africa and the Middle East. This is leading to the inability to invest in the green transition and ultimately de-industrialisation of Europe,” the association concludes.
Carrie Bone UK
