EUROFER President Dr. Henrik Adam comments on US steel tariffs

Henrik Adam stated that: "US President Donald Trump's Executive Order imposing a general tariff of 25% on all steel imports is a radical escalation of the trade war started under his first administration. It will further worsen the situation of the European steel industry and exacerbate an already bad market environment.
If all product exemptions and the Tariff Rates Quota are now lifted, the EU could lose up to 3.7 million tons 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 loss of a significant portion of these exports cannot be recovered through EU exports to other markets.

Additionally, this move risks causing new, significant trade flow diversions. In 2024, the US imported around 23 million tons of steel products from third countries outside the EU. These volumes are now likely to be largely diverted to the European market.

Global steel overcapacity is already heavily burdening the vulnerable EU steel market today, mostly from Asia, North Africa and the Middle East, at very cheap prices. This is leading to a failure to invest in green transformation and ultimately to the deindustrialization of Europe. In 2024 alone, the EU steel industry had to close 9 million tons of capacity, with more than 18,000 layoffs announced. President Trump's Executive Order will inevitably make the situation worse. "

Emphasizing that the need for decisive EU action to protect the European steel industry has become even more urgent, Dr. Adam listed the key measures expected from the EU;

• The current EU safeguard regime must be urgently revised with effective measures to reflect dramatic market and trade conditions.
• The current EU safeguard measure is set to expire in less than a year and a half (end of June 2026), while the worsening global steel overcapacity and the increase in steel protective measures around the world have been identified as an absolute necessity for the continuation of a comprehensive tariff system. It was underlined that WTO rules do not prohibit the application of comprehensive tariffs.

Dr. Adam concluded: "Unless the current safeguard quota regime is tightened immediately, the diversion caused by the new US steel tariffs will inevitably lead to further idling of EU steel capacity and eventual plant closures."