The European Union has failed to secure any reduction in the punitive 50 per cent US steel tariff in the latest outline trade deal with Washington, leaving the bloc’s exporters facing one of the harshest trade penalties imposed by President Donald Trump’s administration.
Despite weeks of high-level negotiations and mounting pressure from European steelmakers, diplomats confirmed this week that the provisional agreement includes a 15 per cent baseline tariff on most EU goods—but crucially, steel remains excluded from the reduction.
“It includes a 15% baseline tariff on a range of goods, with notable exceptions such as steel, which remains at 50%,” a Brussels diplomat said.
The news has dealt a blow to the European steel industry, already under strain from high energy costs and rising imports of cheap Chinese steel. The sector had hoped for parity with Britain, which secured a 25 per cent steel tariff, now due to fall to zero under the bilateral deal agreed by Keir Starmer in May.
By contrast, the EU now faces a steel tariff twice the UK’s rate, prompting renewed warnings from Eurofer, the EU’s steel industry body, that the measures could be “catastrophic” for the sector.
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