By Tom Käckenhoff and Christoph Steitz DUESSELDORF/FRANKFURT (Reuters) -Salzgitter, Germany's second-biggest steelmaker, on Monday warned that Washington's tariff coverage was dealing a extreme blow to European trade, after the U.S. administration unveiled plans to double metal import levies to 50%. In line with Germany's metal affiliation, the US accounted for round a fifth, or 4 …
By Tom Käckenhoff and Christoph Steitz
DUESSELDORF/FRANKFURT (Reuters) -Salzgitter, Germany’s second-biggest steelmaker, on Monday warned that Washington’s tariff coverage was dealing a extreme blow to European trade, after the U.S. administration unveiled plans to double metal import levies to 50%.
In line with Germany’s metal affiliation, the US accounted for round a fifth, or 4 million tonnes, of European metal exports outdoors of the EU, making it the sector’s most vital export market.
“The erratic tariff coverage of the USA is hitting Europe’s financial system exhausting – particularly Germany,” Salzgitter CEO Gunnar Groebler mentioned in a press release.
Groebler mentioned that aside from the direct tariffs on exports to the US, there was additionally elevated import strain on the EU market on account of rising volumes of cheaper Asian metal in Europe.
Asian metal has been flooding the European marketplace for years and the concern of that pattern intensifying because of the U.S. tariffs has been the most important headache for Europe’s sector, along with excessive power costs.
In response to these fears, the EU on April 1 tightened metal import quotas to cut back inflows by an extra 15% as a part of its so-called European Metal and Metals Motion Plan.
Shares in Salzgitter fell together with bigger European friends Thyssenkrupp and ArcelorMittal, all down between 0.6 and 1.8%.
Simply 4.5% of Salzgitter’s gross sales come from its U.S. enterprise, with its non-steel expertise division accounting for half of that. Thyssenkrupp has beforehand mentioned that the US accounts for lower than 5% of its metal exports.
Thyssenkrupp didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark.
“A rise in metal import duties within the USA to 50% ought to immediate the EU Fee to speed up its efforts to implement the measures below the Metal and Metals Motion Plan,” Groebler mentioned.
(Reporting by Tom Kaeckenhoff and Christoph Steitz, Enhancing by Friederike Heine and Bernadette Baum)
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