Increase in customs duties: European ministers met in Paris on Thursday to "maintain steel"

The European steel industry, which employs more than 300,000 people, is worried about a 25% increase in customs duties decreed by the Trump administration in the United States. The sector has already been suffering since last year from Chinese overproduction of low-cost steel and from too high energy prices in Europe.

However, even before Donald Trump's announcement, thousands of job cuts had already been announced by the end of 2024 by the German steel giant Thyssenkrupp. Site closures in France were also announced by the world's number two ArcelorMittal, which also suspended a €1.8 billion investment project in the decarbonization of steel in Dunkirk (northern France), one of the largest blast furnaces in Europe.

Faced with this situation, the worst crisis since 2009 according to professionals in the sector, European industry ministers will meet in Paris on Thursday to discuss the measures to be taken to "ensure the maintenance" of steel production in Europe.

At the end of 2024, steel manufacturers sounded the alarm by calling for an action plan for the European steel industry. Otherwise, site closures will "simply continue, if we do not find rapid measures", according to Eurofer, the organization that brings together the main steel producers in Europe.

"The economic and geopolitical conditions that have affected the European steel market over the past two years show no signs of improvement and have further accentuated their negative impact on the sector in 2024. Growing uncertainty continues to weigh also on 2025 and 2026," the organization specifies, explaining that the outlook depends on unpredictable developments, particularly with regard to international trade.

According to the latest Eurofer economic and steel market outlook, the recession in apparent steel consumption in 2024 will be stronger than expected (-2.3%, instead of -1.8%) and the expected recovery in 2025 has been revised downwards (+2.2%, instead of +3.8%).

Similarly, the recession in steel-using sectors has been revised downwards for 2024 (-3.3% instead of -2.7%), while growth projections for 2025 have also been lowered (+0.9% instead of +1.6%). Some acceleration is not expected before 2026 (+2.1%). Steel imports remain at historically high levels (28%), including in the third quarter of 2024.

"We can no longer face a situation where external factors beyond the control of steelmakers (massive steel dumping, uncompetitive energy and carbon prices, collapse in demand, trade and geopolitical tensions) structurally undermine our industry," Eurofer adds.

This meeting, at the initiative of the French Minister of Industry Marc Ferracci and his Italian counterpart Adolfo Urso, Minister of Enterprise and Made in Italy, will be held "in the presence of the Polish Presidency of the Council of the European Union", indicated Bercy. Some fifteen steelmaking countries including Poland, Italy, Spain, Luxembourg, Slovakia, Greece, Finland, Austria, Hungary, Sweden, the Netherlands, Romania, Belgium and Slovenia are invited.

For the time being, the European executive has already stressed that the American taxes "are not justified" and that they would be "illegal" and counterproductive on the economic level. The participants wish to "share" the findings and solutions with the other players in the steel industry, "both companies and unions". This meeting should conclude with a joint declaration on steel with concrete proposals, Bercy stressed.

The profession is calling in particular for "measures to strengthen and ensure the effective application of EU trade defence instruments in order to put an end to unfair trade practices and circumvention" or "the improvement of the Carbon Border Adjustment Measure (CBAM) in order to prevent circumvention, the transfer of resources and the relocation of downstream sectors, and to preserve EU steel exports" but also to "reduce energy costs".