At the time of going to press, US President Donald Trump was expected to imminently announce tariff hikes on steel and aluminium. The day before, he had promised to “announce tariffs on steel on Monday”, as well as on aluminium, at a rate of 25%. This threat weighs heavily on the European economy: of the 26.4 million tonnes of crude steel imported by the United States in 2024, the EU produced 3.6 million tonnes, making it the third largest supplier after Brazil and Canada.
For the European Commission, imposing tariffs would be “unlawful and economically counterproductive, especially given the deeply integrated production chains the EU and US established through transatlantic trade and investment”.
In response, the EU could reintroduce its own punitive tariffs on other US products, which have been suspended until the end of March. However, the European Commission has so far refrained from making any announcements along these lines. “At this stage, we have not received any official notification regarding the imposition of additional tariffs on EU goods. We will not respond to broad announcements without details or written clarification”, assured the European Commission. (Original version in French by Léa Marchal)