The 50% US tariffs on steel and aluminium have been in force since midnight on Wednesday 4 June. Despite this latest escalation, the European Commissioner for Trade, Maroš Šefčovič, is still pinning his hopes on a positive outcome to the negotiations between the EU and the United States. That same day, he met his US counterpart, US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer, in Paris.
“I explained to him that this was not helping the ongoing negotiations, especially as we are making progress”, Mr Šefčovič told the press about the 50% US duties on steel and aluminium.
He insisted to his counterpart that European steel was not the cause of the problems facing the Americans. “We are exporting highly specialised steel which is needed for the US industry because it is for specialised production and we clearly have the same challenge: we are suffering because of the global overcapacity”.
Despite this latest move by US President Donald Trump - which is not aimed solely at the EU - the European Commissioner remains confident about the negotiations. “I still believe that we can achieve a positive result”, he said, assuring that discussions had progressed and were now very concrete.
The EU steel industry suffers another blow. For their part, European steel producers are calling for help. The Commission must urgently propose an alternative solution to the current safeguard clause, according to Axel Eggert, Director General of the Eurofer association, whose organisation represents the EU steel industry. “If we wait until 2026, when the current EU steel safeguard expires, much of our industry will already be submerged beyond recovery”, he insisted in a press release.
Speaking to members of the European Parliament’s Committee on Industry on Tuesday 3 June, Stéphane Séjourné, the European Commission’s executive vice-president responsible for industrial prosperity, promised to present this measure before the summer. (Original version in French by Léa Marchal)