By Alessandro Parodi
(Reuters) – French steelmaker Aperam on Tuesday called on Brussels to intervene to curb imports if new 25% tariffs on all steel and aluminium imports into the United States prompt companies to ship more to the European Union instead.
The company’s comments highlight the worries among European steelmakers about a potential fresh flood of cheap steel into the EU as happened in 2018 under the first Trump presidency.
Last week, the world’s second largest steelmaker ArcelorMittal, from which Aperam spun off in 2011, called on the European Union to tighten trade protections.
The Mittal family remains the largest shareholder of both companies with about 40% stake in each.
The EU put in place in 2018 safeguard measures to limit the amount of tariff-free steel entering the bloc to prevent a surge of imports after U.S. President Donald Trump’s then steel tariffs effectively closed the U.S. market.
Under World Trade Organization rules, safeguards can only be in place for a maximum of eight years, meaning they will run out during Trump’s second term in mid-2026.
The European Commission’s Executive Vice-President Stephane Sejourne said in December it would look into ways to extend those measures as part of an overall plan to protect the sector as it decarbonises.
“Since 2018, we have already been managing the impact of the 25% duty, working closely with our customers to find mutually acceptable solutions,” a spokesperson for Aperam, which makes stainless and speciality steels and alloys, told Reuters referring to the existing U.S. tariffs. Former President Joe Biden later negotiated duty-free quota arrangements with Britain, the European Union and Japan.
“We furthermore expect that if exports from third countries to the U.S. are deflected to the European market .. the European Commission promptly takes appropriate measures to safeguard the interests of its domestic steel producers, like it did in 2018.”
On Tuesday the bloc said it would respond with “firm and proportionate countermeasures” to the new tariffs.
The EU’s so-called “Steel and Metals Action Plan” aims at streamlining or delaying certain Green Deal regulations while pledging to uphold EU climate goals and regulating imports through quotas. It will be presented in Spring 2025.
Aperam CEO Tim di Maulo told analysts in a call on Friday that reducing imports was not the only measure steelmakers had asked for and any review of the safeguard that strengthened inefficiencies would be positive.
(Reporting by Alessandro Parodi, editing by Alexandra Hudson)
