It should be of great concern to anybody who believes that Brexit will herald an era of free trade between the USA and the UK that the Trump administration is preparing to impose tariffs on EU steel (amongst others) from tomorrow, June 1st. It signals that the Americans under Trump are about to embark on a myopic, ill-advised and probably self-harming bout of trade disputes with allies and antagonists alike. The EU and the rest of the world are bound to retaliate.
EU exports of steel to the USA are set to face tariffs of 25% from tomorrow. It seems that talks to explore a voluntary reduction in steel exports to the USA have broken down – the market forces so beloved of the likes of Mr Trump plainly require imported steel on the basis of its quality, price and a paucity of domestic alternatives. The EU steel industry is the second largest in the world, behind China, and employs 320000 people. A further tariff of 10% on aluminium is set to be imposed at the same time.
European steel manufacturers are keen that the EU should take measures to prevent the dumping of Chinese steel, previously earmarked for the US market, in the EU.
France’s finance minister, Bruno Le Maire suggested that the EU would take “all necessary measures” to the imposition of US tariffs, noting: "It's entirely up to US authorities whether they want to enter into a trade conflict with their biggest partner, Europe". The EU has drawn up plans for retaliatory measures on US exports such as jeans and motorcycles. EU leaders have made it plain that they are not prepared to discuss trade with the US unless the tariff issue has been resolved.
If the tariffs do come into force, as seems inevitable now, market sentiment will be badly affected, depressing global indexes even further on the back of the Italian political crisis.