Trump’s steel tariff raise misses real target, says EU

PARIS — President Donald Trump’s decision to double steel import tariffs to 50 percent is a misguided blow to America’s allies, the European Union’s chief trade negotiator said Wednesday, warning the real threat lies in global overcapacity rather than in the bloc’s steel exports.

Trade Commissioner Maroš Šefčovič, speaking after talks with U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer in Paris, said that Europe was not the source of the problem — which is global overcapacity — that the Trump administration was seeking to address with the tariff. 

“We are not bringing problems,” Šefčovič told reporters, pointing to the fact that the EU exports only about 4 million tons of highly specialized steel. 

“Let’s not target each other, but let’s work together [on] how to address this global overcapacity issue.”

His comments came after Trump signed an order overnight to hike U.S. tariffs on steel and aluminum to the prohibitive level of 50 percent. The United Kingdom is the only country exempted, facing only a 25 percent tariff on the metals. 

China, India, Japan, the United States and Russia are the world’s top steel producers, according to data from the World Steel Association. 

Momentum play

Talks between the EU and U.S. are otherwise “advancing in the right direction,” Šefčovič said: “Our goal, of course, is to maintain the momentum.”

The trade commissioner noted how much has been achieved in talks with Washington in recent months, adding that they were now focusing on “very concrete” issues, such as economic security, tariff lines and market access.

Greer struck an equally positive tone, saying that “negotiations are advancing quickly.”

“Today’s meeting in Paris ... was very constructive and indicates a willingness by the EU to work with us to find a concrete way forward to achieve reciprocal trade,” Greer said in a press release.

While the U.S. has listed the trade barriers it faces in its dealings with the EU, Šefčovič reiterated that there is also room for positive engagement with Washington on semiconductors, AI chips, liquefied natural gas purchases and developing a common approach on raw materials as well as tackling the global steel glut. 

Pressure is however ramping up on Brussels to find an agreement with the White House, with a temporary truce on tariffs lapsing in early July. 

“We should do our utmost to find an amicable solution and to get the deal before July 9. It’s clearly the ambition from our side, and I think that is also the ambition from the U.S. side,” Šefčovič told reporters. 

Brussels and Washington agreed to step up the pace of talks in late May, after Trump threatened to impose a 50 percent tariff on all European goods. The European Commission, however, warned this week it would hit back with up to €120 billion in retaliatory tariffs, should there be no mutually beneficial agreement.

Wednesday’s meeting, on the sidelines of an Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development trade ministerial, is the first to be held between EU and U.S. negotiators on European soil since Trump took office in January. 

Šefčovič has paid three publicly disclosed visits to Washington in a bid to negotiate away the U.S. tariffs.

This story has been updated.