Focus Rostfrei: EURANIMI: Europe, wake up!

Also impose tariffs on imports of finished products!

The excessive EU steel plan halves import quotas and doubles tariffs – without reciprocal measures, there is a risk of a flood of cheap finished goods and accelerated deindustrialisation in Europe, Focus Rostfrei shares via LinkedIn Pulse.

The European Association of Independent Metal Traders (EURANIMI) warns that the European Commission’s new steel plan will cause existential difficulties for tens of thousands of manufacturing companies across Europe. The proposal provides for import quotas to be reduced by 50% (and by up to 60% for stainless steel) and for the tariff rate outside the quota to be doubled from the current 25% to 50%. This, in combination with the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) – which will come into force on 1 January 2026 and will alone lead to a price increase of over 10% for steel. The result: skyrocketing steel prices and structural bottlenecks for Europe’s manufacturing industry.

What is going wrong?

This measure is excessive: halved quotas, doubled tariffs and a new CO₂ tax on imported steel. EURANIMI fears that this combination will cripple tens of thousands of companies in the European manufacturing industry – the consequences are predictable:

• Shortages and price explosions. Production capacities cannot be expanded overnight; the COVID demand recovery in 2021 has already shown this: record prices, delivery delays, production stoppages.
• A red carpet for cheap imports. Machinery, consumer goods and components manufactured outside the EU from cheap, untaxed steel will flood the European market.
• Loss of competitiveness. Higher costs in Europe and declining market shares abroad will lead to accelerated deindustrialisation.

The missing link: mirror measures for finished products

To prevent Europe from undermining its own industrial base and further accelerating ongoing deindustrialisation, EURANIMI calls on the European Parliament and the Council to ask the Commission to fundamentally revise its proposal and, at the same time, to add a mirror mechanism for finished products.

Once a reasonable import threshold has been exceeded, this mechanism would impose a 50% duty calculated on the steel content of the imported goods, provided that they contain at least 20% steel.
For example:

A washing machine (± 60% steel): once the quota is exhausted, the value of the steel contained would be subject to a 50% import duty, which would only increase the final retail price by around 1-2%.

Such a mechanism would ensure that European manufacturers are not penalised for producing within the EU.

‘Protecting the steel sector is legitimate – but the entire value chain must be taken into account.’

‘Protecting only steelworks and their 300,000 jobs is a strategic mistake,’ says Christophe Lagrange, Executive Director of EURANIMI. ‘Instead, the entire value chain must be protected – it employs forty times as many people. Otherwise, we will soon be producing European steel for an industry that is a shadow of its former self.’

Rob Greve, also a member of EURANIMI’s Executive Board, adds: ‘Protecting the European steel sector is legitimate – but not at the expense of the manufacturing industry. Otherwise, we will lose even more production, jobs and autonomy. A strong steel industry can only survive through an equally strong European market.’

EURANIMI represents the independent European distribution sector for stainless steel and aluminium. Its members operate over 300 distribution centres in 26 countries and supply more than 50,000 industrial customers. EURANIMI is recognised by the European Commission as an official contact for consultations on EU trade, customs and climate policy.

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Focus Rostfrei via LinkedIn Pulse
German
27 October 2025