The European Commission has promised an action plan for the steel industry, to be launched in mid-March, days after US President Donald Trump's threat to impose tariffs against the sector comes into force, marking the start of a trade war.
The Commission will publish an action plan to address unfair trade measures imposed on the steel sector by international competitors and will review import limits set during the steel trade dispute that began under the previous Trump administration and is due to end in June 2026, the executive announced on Tuesday.
"European steelmakers are at a crossroads," said the Chairwoman of the Commission Ursula von der Leyen during a meeting with representatives of the steel industry, "faces the challenges of necessary carbon reduction and partly unfair global competition." She said the Commission's aim was to put forward a plan to help the sector "prosper globally", adding: "We will join forces to create a strong business case for steel produced in Europe."
The Action Plan is held by the Vice-President of the Commission Stéphane Séjourné introduced on March 19, just days after the likely effective date - March 12 - of the 25 % tariffs that Donald Trump announced on U.S. steel and aluminum imports.
The Commission has promised to respond to the US measures "decisively" and "immediately". The Commission will take action as soon as it is informed of the US tariffs, an EU official told Euronews. A list of US products that will be subject to European countermeasures has already been drawn up. The next step will be a "political decision", another EU official told Euronews, adding that the issue is being dealt with directly by von der Leyen's cabinet.
The Commission on Tuesday promised to review safeguard measures restricting steel imports into the bloc, which have been reviewed several times since 2018 but cannot be extended beyond eight years.
In June 2024, it decided to renew these measures again, citing global overcapacity - mainly from China - spilling over into the European market. At the time, the measures were not aimed at US steel imports, as the trade disputes triggered during the first Trump administration were halted under the Biden presidency.
The European sector is now worried not only about the "almost four million tonnes of steel that the EU exports to the US every year" that will be hit by US tariffs, but also about the 27 million tonnes of global steel imports that currently come into the US from elsewhere and that will now be diverted to open markets, he told Euronews Axel Eggert, Managing Director of the EUROFER Steel Trading Group.
"Europe is of course the first destination. We are facing another wave of destructive steel imports that will destroy our industry, jobs, capacity and value chains in Europe," He added.
In addition to the review of safeguard measures, the Commission's Action Plan will address other challenges facing the sector, such as high energy costs and environmentally friendly production methods.
euronews/ gnews.cz - RoZ
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