The European Commission, responding to US president Donald Trump’s pledge to launch steel and aluminium tariffs, called the move “unjustified”.
“We will react to protect the interests of European businesses, workers and consumers from unjustified measures,” the commission said, adding that it had not received any official notification of new levies.
Mr Trump said he would on Monday impose 25 per cent tariffs on all steel and aluminium imports, expanding his trade conflicts to the metals sector in a new burst of protectionism from Washington.
The US president made the announcement during a briefing with reporters as he flew from his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida to attend the Super Bowl in New Orleans on Sunday evening.
Canada, China and Mexico were in 2023 the biggest exporters to the US of steel and aluminium products, but the proposed levies would potentially ensnare countries from Brazil to Germany to South Korea.
The promise from Mr Trump, who took aim at the metals industry in his first term, hit shares in some European and South Korean steel producers on Monday.
The president has opened his second term with an aggressive trade policy that has rattled currency markets, sparked fears of a renewed bout of US inflation and targeted America’s largest trading partners.
In addition to the measures on steel and aluminium products, Mr Trump told reporters that he would later in the week unveil new reciprocal tariffs targeting imports from a wide range of countries that impose levies on US exports, without giving any details.
In his first term as president Mr Trump imposed a 25 per cent tariff on steel and 10 per cent on aluminium, before subsequently granting exemptions to several trading partners, including Canada and Mexico.
The European Union (EU) retaliated to the 2018 tariffs by imposing levies on a series of US imports, including bourbon whiskey, Harley-Davidson motorcycles and motor boats.
Joe Biden later reached an agreement with the EU, replacing the tariffs with a quota system but which also allowed for the reimposition of duties this year if talks between the sides failed to make progress. Under the agreement, the EU is set to reimpose duties on €4.8bn of US imports at the end of March.
Since Mr Trump returned to the White House last month, his volley of tariff announcements has roiled currency markets, but the dollar index was up just 0.1 per cent on Monday as traders awaited further details of the proposed measures.
Aluminium traded on the London Metal Exchange was up 0.4 per cent to $2,639 per tonne.
Shares in ArcelorMittal, which relies on the US for about 13 per cent of its sales, dropped about 2 per cent. Shares in South Korean steelmakers Hyundai Steel and Posco Holdings closed down 2 per cent and 0.8 per cent respectively in Seoul.
Tariffs on metals imports have been championed by some US trade unions as well as domestic producers, but they risk raising input costs for a wide range of US manufacturers. In 2023, the US imported $82.1 billion (€80 billion) of steel and iron and $27.4 billion of aluminium, while exporting $43.3 billion of steel and iron and $14.3 billion of aluminium.
The steel industry has historically been a lightning rod for trade tensions, with several nations last year introducing levies against imports. The US tripled its tariffs on Chinese steel last year, while the EU launched an anti-dumping investigation into Chinese tin-coated steel products. Mexico and Brazil also raised tariffs.
South Korea’s Ministry of Industry, Trade and Energy held an emergency meeting steel industry executives on Monday as they raced to find more details. “We will jointly respond actively to minimise the impact on our companies,” it said
Australia’s prime minister, Anthony Albanese, said his country’s companies had “significant investments in [the] US steel industry creating thousands of jobs in both the US and in Australia”.
“We will continue to make the case for Australia’s national interest with the US administration,” Mr Albanese said.
Mr Trump’s latest pledge comes as the White House has said it will block Nippon Steel’s takeover of US Steel following Mr Biden’s decision to do the same.
But Mr Trump has said he would work on allowing a large investment, though not a majority stake, in the Pennsylvania-based producer by its Japanese rival, and insisted that tariffs would help. “Tariffs are going to make [US Steel] very successful. And I think it has good management,” the president said.
Shares in Nippon Steel closed down 0.5 per cent in Tokyo. – Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2025
