US tariffs on steel and aluminium: Brussels counterattack
In response to the US trade offensive on steel and aluminium, on 12 March the European Commission announced the introduction of customs duties. « strong but proportionate » on many products made in USA from 1 April.
The 25% tariff rate on all imports of steel and aluminum into the United States, without exception or exemption, has been in effect since Wednesday, March 12, 2025. This measure, announced since February 10 by Donald Trump, will hit the European Union, but also Canada, China, Japan and Australia, the leading suppliers of steel and aluminum in the United States. While Australia and Japan have tried to negotiate, in vain, with the US President, the EU, who considers this US tax unjustified, has decided to respond quickly by countermeasures on imports of US goods into the Community.
First of all, the European Commission has planned to allow the suspension of the countermeasures it had already put in place between 2018 and 2020, in response to the first US offensive on steel and aluminium launched under the 1andDonald Trump's mandate. Secondly, since the US measures are much more incisive than the previous one, the European Commission is going to base on new categories of products to be targeted with an entry into force on 13 April 2025. In the end, customs duties will be applied on a wide range of U.S. products ranging from boats to motorbikes to bourbon and agricultural products (poultry, beef, sugar, dairy products).
Brussels, which is forced and forced to retaliate, is, however, still open to negotiation, fearing both for jobs and for the consumer wallet on both sides of the Atlantic. It remains to be seen whether the US President will brandish other tariff barriers against the EU, since he has been threatening to impose 25% import tariffs on European products for several weeks.
With regard to the other tariff measures introduced by the United States that we announced last week (cf.United States: import tax avalanche), the lines have already moved... Indeed, Donald Trump decided to relax sanctions against Canada and Mexico, at least until April 2. However, a real trade war is under way between these two neighbours and trading partners, new sanctions are being imposed every day with the introduction of punitive tariffs on both sides. A bleak and hard-to-follow match, as the exchanges are frequent, fast and unpredictable.