Trade Cases

EU Fearful of Impact from U.S. Steel Tariffs

Written by Tim Triplett


The European Union is concerned that the 25 percent tariffs on steel imports announced by President Trump in March could lead China and other countries to more aggressively sell steel in Europe. EU officials have launched an investigation to determine how the U.S. tariffs will affect the European market and whether they need to respond with trade action of their own.

“The information currently available to the European Commission … has revealed that imports of certain steel products have recently increased sharply, showing that there is sufficient evidence that these trends in imports appear to call for safeguards measures,” stated EU officials.

While the investigation was prompted by multiple factors contributing to “a negative impact on the market shares of Union producers,” the EU announcement specifically noted the impact of “recent developments, such as any trade diversion resulting from the U.S. measures.”

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