The United States has placed 25% tariffs on imports of steel, aluminium, and products containing such metals; the European Commission will respond by re-enforcing suspended counter-tariffs and introducing new countermeasures to the ‘unjustified’ restrictions.
The tariffs
During President Trump’s first term in office, his administration introduced tariffs on exports from the European Union, known collectively as ‘section 232’ tariffs.
Steel and aluminium imports into the United States were subjected to 25% and 10% tariffs, respectively, in June 2018. While the EU was initially exempt from these measures, it was re-included after negotiations with the US failed.
To prevent overseas manufacturers from altering their products to avoid taxes, the tariffs were extended to apply to derivative steel and aluminium products in January 2020.
The EU responded with two sets of ‘rebalancing’ countermeasures. Annex I was effective immediately as of June 2018 and subjected particular aluminium derivative products to a 10% tariff; Annex II would impose a 25% tariff on steel derivative products and was set to enter into force in June 2021. Ultimately, both measures were suspended until 31st March 2025.
Today the US announced the re-introduction of its steel and aluminium tariffs, reversing the Biden-Harris Administration’s previous agreement with US trade partners to enable duty-free metal imports in certain quantities.
This time, the aluminium tariff has increased from 10% to 25%. Steel and aluminium products themselves, whether fully or partially made of these metals, are now included in these restrictions, as are both finished and semifinished products.
The US Secretary of Commerce will also extend the list of steel and aluminium derivatives to be held to additional duties of up to 25% – this will be completed by 12th May 2025.
The Commission calculates that the tariffs will impact €26 billion’s worth of EU exports and approximately 5% of all EU goods exported to the US. American importers are also expected to pay up to €6 billion in additional import tariffs, based on current import flows.
In retaliation, the EU will fully implement its rebalancing measures once their suspension expires on 31st March. A new package of additional measures will also come into play, targeting €18 billion worth of goods as the US tariffs increase in scope.
It is hoped that ‘the total value of the EU measures corresponds to the increased value of trade impacted by the new US tariffs’, with its measures set to ‘protect European businesses, workers and consumers from the impact of these unjustified trade restrictions.’
Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Commission, describes the EU’s countermeasures as “strong but proportionate”. She asserts that they are “bad for business, and even worse for consumers” – warning that they are “disrupting supply chains”, “bring uncertainty to the economy”, and put jobs and prices at risk.
She emphasizes that “in a world fraught with geopolitical and economic uncertainties, it is not in our common interest to burden our economies with tariffs.
We deeply regret the US tariffs imposed on Europe.
— Ursula von der Leyen (@vonderleyen) March 12, 2025
Tariffs are taxes.
They are bad for business, and even worse for consumers.
Today Europe takes strong but proportionate countermeasures.
We remain ready to engage in dialogue ↓ pic.twitter.com/5m1bGZjnsx
The response
The European Steel Association (EUROFER) argues that the US steel tariffs “exacerbates an already dire market environment for the European steel industry and poses a genuine threat to its future”; it urges the EU to undertake an “effective revision of the steel safeguard measures”.
“President Trump’s ‘America First’ policy threatens to be a final nail in the coffin of the European steel industry,” cautions EUROFER president Dr. Henrik Adam. “If European steel disappears, so too does European automotive, European security and defence, energy infrastructure, transportation and others. What is at stake is European sovereignty.
“Under the first Trump administration, we already witnessed the huge impact of Section 232. EU steel exports to the U.S. decreased by over 1 million tonnes, while for every three tonnes of steel deflected from the US market because of Section 232, two tonnes arrived in the EU.
“Today, the overall market situation for European steel is much worse than in 2018. These new measures imposed by Trump are more extensive, therefore the impact of the U.S. tariffs is likely to be far greater.”
Removing all product exemptions and Tariff Rate Quotas is feared to prevent 1 million tonnes of steel exports to the US, with a blanket import tariff on derivative steel expected to eliminate another 1 million tonnes.
EUROFER goes on to caution that US tariffs will threaten EU steel production, which reportedly experienced a 9 million-tonne decline in capacity and the loss of 18,000 jobs last year. Also, with global excess capacity already expected to increase in 2025, steel intended for the US market could be redirected to Europe and end up ‘flooding’ the market, especially if Trump imposes additional reciprocal tariffs.
Indeed, Malte Lohan, head of the American Chamber of Commerce to the EU, warns that the “more stringent” set of tariffs will have a “harsher” impact and “affect even more sectors” in the EU and United States alike.
To name a specific example, spiritsEUROPE’s Trade & Economic Affairs director, Pauline Bastidon, encourages the EU and US alike to “keep spirits out of unrelated disputes while they work on resolving their differences and protecting the vitally important transatlantic trade relationship.”
She argues that spirits drinks have “become collateral damage”, highlighting spiritsEUROPE’s “fail[ure] to understand how this will help with the broader, unrelated dispute on steel and aluminium.”
The EU is not the only region to whom the tariffs apply. Trump previously threatened to escalate tariffs on Canadian steel and aluminium up to 50%, but backed down in the face of Ontaria’s retaliatory surcharge of 25% on power exports to the US.
The original 25% tariffs still apply, and Canada has retaliated with 25% tariffs on key sectors including aluminium, steel, wood, paper, and packaging.
The Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ACCI) asserts that the “deeply disappointing” new tariffs violate America’s Free Trade Agreement with the United States and will ultimately harm Australian aluminium and steel exporters.
China has also declared that it will respond to American metal tariffs with “all necessary measures” but has not announced immediate retaliations.
Similarly, the UK has described the new tariffs as “disappointing” and “reserve[s] [its] right to retaliate”, but it has not responded with immediate counter-tariffs, instead planning to take a “cool-headed approach” to any further action.
Yet Liam Byrne, chair of the business and trade committee, asserts that the steel tariffs are “deeply concerning for UK industry, threatening jobs and competitiveness at a time when our steel sector is already under immense pressure.”
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