European steelmakers association Eurofer has urged US President Donald Trump not to act on the suggestions made in the US Department of Commerce’s Section 232 report.

As reported, last week Trump met with members of Congress to discuss his options regarding the report. He has until mid-April to make a decision on the matter – 90 days from the department’s internal dissemination of findings. The President could decide to apply global tariffs or target a “…subset” of countries.

“The global alternative would see a likely quota of 63% of 2017 import levels or a tariff of 24% applied on all countries and possibly all steel products,” Eurofer says in a statement sent to Kallanish. “The country-specific subset alternative would see tariffs on a list of named countries: Brazil, South Korea, Russia, Turkey, India, Vietnam, China, Thailand, South Africa, Egypt, Malaysia and Costa Rica, with all other countries limited to 100% of their 2017 import level.”

Eurofer head Axel Eggert says that either solution would have a direct impact on the European steel industry, as “…there could be a massive deflection of previously US-bound steel products to the EU’s open market.” As a result, the European Union would move to protect itself further, starting a global trade war that could break the fragile recovery seen recently in the sector.

Eggert nevertheless stresses that Trump could well decide not to act on the suggestions made in the report, thereby refraining from pulling “…the trigger on a new trade war.” He continues: “The EU steel industry has long been a reliable supplier of high quality steels to the US, sending just over three million tonnes of steel there in the first eleven months of 2017. The EU and US are close partners and NATO allies; any restriction on steel imports from the EU based on Section 232 would undermine this partnership.”