The Commission has pledged an action plan for the steel industry to be launched in mid-March, days after US President Donald Trump’s threatened tariffs against the sector are slated to come into force, beckoning the onset of a trade war.
The European Commission will publish an action plan to deal with unfair trade measures imposed on the steel sector by international competitors, and revisit import limits set during the steel trade spat which began during the last Trump administration, which are due to end in June 2026, the executive announced on Tuesday.
“European steelmakers are at a crossroads,” Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said during a meeting with steel industry representatives, “facing the challenges of necessary decarbonisation and partly unfair global competition.” She said that the Commission aims to present a plan to help the sector “thrive globally”, adding: “We join forces to make a strong business case for steel made in Europe.”
The action plan is slated to be presented by Commission vice-president Stéphane Séjourné on 19 March, just days after the likely date of entry into force – 12 March – of the 25% tariffs announced by Donald Trump on steel and aluminium imports into the US.
The Commission has promised to respond “firmly” and “immediately” to the US measures. The Commission will take action once it has been notified of the US tariffs, an EU official told Euronews. A list of American products to be targeted by European countermeasures has already been drawn up. The next step will be “a political decision”, another EU official told Euronews, saying the issue is being directly handled by von der Leyen’s cabinet.
The Commission promised on Tuesday to review safeguard measures limiting 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 renewed these measures again citing global overcapacities – especially emanating from China – which spill over into the European market. The measures were not at the time aimed at US steel imports, as the trade spat instigated during the first Trump administration was brought to a halt during Biden’s presidency.
The European sector is now not only concerned about “the almost four million tons of EU steel exports every year to the US”, which will be hit by US tariffs, but also about the 27 million tons of global steel imports currently arriving in the US from elsewhere, which will now be deviated to open markets, Axel Eggert, the director general of steel trade group EUROFER told Euronews.
“Of course, Europe is the first destination. We will have another wave of devastating steel imports destroying our industry, jobs, capacity and value chains in Europe,” he added.
Beyond the review of safeguard measures, the Commission’s action plan will also address other challenges the sector is facing, such as high costs of energy and green production methods.
