The unchanged 50% duties on steel and 15% duties on metal-thermal products shipped to the United States mean that the new EU-US trade agreement will place a "huge burden" on the European steel industry, Eurofer argues.
The industry body said that the imposition of duties on steel from the EU could lead to a reduction in exports to the United States, which amounted to 3.8 million tons in 2024. Moreover, despite the fact that car exports were included in the new general rate of 15% on other EU imports – up from 25% previously – it was stated that car exports would also suffer.
In 2024, when the 2.5% tariff was in effect, about 760,000 vehicles from the EU were exported to the EU. According to Eurofer, this amounted to about one million tons of steel in the EU, and most of it may now be at risk.
Comments made by European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen after meeting with Donald Trump in Scotland suggest that a solution that could lower tariffs may yet be agreed. She said: "With regard to steel and aluminum production, the EU and the US face a common external problem - a global oversupply of production capacity. We will work together to ensure fair global competition. And tariffs will be reduced to reduce barriers between us. And a quota system will be introduced."
Steel tariffs will remain unchanged"
Laura Hodges, a member of the European Parliament and an analyst of the US steel market, said: "The 50% tariffs have become devastating for the United States' key steel trading partners. Although there is hope for the introduction of a steel quota system with the EU and possibly the UK, President Trump has not publicly acknowledged such a possibility and more recently even denied that steel tariffs would be reduced. At the moment, steel tariffs and uncertainty remain."
The EU-US agreement is the fifth trade deal announced by the White House since the extension of negotiations on President Donald Trump's "reciprocal" import tariffs. Following the previously announced framework agreement with the UK, new trade agreements were concluded with Vietnam, Indonesia, the Philippines and Japan. They provide for "reciprocal" duties of 20%, 19%, 19% and 15% on imported goods, with the exception of steel and aluminum. Following recent negotiations with Japan, Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba confirmed that the 50% U.
S. import tariff on steel will remain in effect.
The European Commission has agreed to make a number of investments in the United States in exchange for a 15% tariff rate, which is half of the 30% "reciprocal duty."" the tariff rate that the president had previously threatened
