At the EUROMETAL Steel Day & YISAD Flat Steel Conference held at Istanbul Marriott Hotel Asia on Tuesday, April 8, in cooperation with SteelOrbis and with over 400 participants, Metin Tayfun İşeri, chairman of Turkey’s Association of Flat Steel Exporters and Manufacturers (YISAD), and EUROMETAL president Alexander Julius made the opening speeches.
Mr. İşeri started his speech by drawing attention to the changes in the global steel and iron market. He stated that, during US President Donald Trump’s first administration in 2018, a new era in global steel and iron trading began with the introduction of the Section 232 tariffs, resulting in a switch to protectionism from free trade.
Mr. İşeri said that, after Trump, the Biden administration granted exemptions and exceptions under the Section 232 tariffs. However, during the Biden administration, the US imported 27 million mt of steel, 3 million mt of which were subject to tariffs, whereas the remainder entered the country under exemptions.
The YISAD official underlined that, during the same period, Turkey only exported 300,000 mt of steel to the US while paying tariffs, representing 10 percent of the total steel imports of the US, and became the most punished country.
Following all these developments, Trump has now removed all exemptions and exceptions and imposed 25 percent tariffs on steel imports from all countries.
According to İşeri, this is not bad news for Turkey as the new tariffs have leveled the playing field. He concluded his speech by saying that the direction of world trade will become clearer in the coming period.
Meanwhile, Alexander Julius, president of the European Federation of Associations of Steel, Tube and Metal Distributors (EUROMETAL), stated that, even though the new tariffs imposed by US President Trump have created chaos in the global markets, EU steelmakers consider these challenges to be positive.
According to Mr. Julius, facing more and more challenges amid weaker steel demand in Europe, the European Commission has started to support the local manufacturing industry again following the new tariffs and has started to make the local steel industry more independent. “We have made clear the issue of tariffs on steel derivatives, namely, finished products.
This subject has to be addressed by the EC,” he stated. Julius underlined that the EU must first support its own green steel production before pushing the green transition goals on a global scale. EUROFER is working together with the European Steel Association (EUROFER) in this regard, he said, emphasizing the direct proportionality between manufacturing and steel demand.
The EUROMETAL official welcomed the new safeguard measures by the EU, such as the reduction of quotas, and said he hoped that these measures remain tightened until 2026, while the European Commission is expected to bring new measures to the table in July 2026.
He ended his presentation with inviting the participants to EUROMETALS’s 75th Anniversary meeting in Luxembourg on July 2-3 this year.
