Bloc’s steel exporters face ‘catastrophic’ Trump levy, says industry body – potentially twice the rate for the UK
The latest proposal for a trade agreement between the EU and the US does not include a removal or reduction of the punitive 50% tariff Donald Trump imposed on steel imports, it has emerged.
It is a big setback for the industry in the EU which last month warned it faced being wiped out by the 50% rate, high energy costs and cheap Chinese competition.
On Thursday Trump confirmed the range of tariffs he would be imposing on countries yet to sign a deal. “We’ll have a straight, simple tariff of anywhere between 15% and 50%,” the president said at an artificial intelligence summit in Washington.
One Brussels diplomat confirmed the new outline deal to avert a trade war with the US – briefed out to member states on Wednesday – “includes a 15% baseline tariff on a range of goods, with notable exceptions such as steel, which remains at 50%”.
