EU Urges U.S. to Remove Tariffs on Steel-Containing Products

Xuân Liêm - 15 October, 2025
EU Urges U.S. to Remove Tariffs on Steel Containing Products

HORSENS, Denmark (Reuters) — The European Commission (EC) is urging the United States to lift tariffs on products manufactured from steel and aluminum, in a bid to advance the pending parts of the EU–U.S. metal trade agreement, EU Trade Commissioner Maros Sefcovic said on Tuesday (October 14, 2025).

Under the transatlantic agreement, both sides are considering a “ring-fencing” mechanism for steel, aluminum, and their derivative products to address global overcapacity issues. This would allow the current 50% U.S. tariffs to be replaced with tariff-free or low-tariff quotas.

The Commission stated that the EU has fulfilled its commitments by proposing to increase steel import tariffs to 50%, halve existing quotas, and enhance transparency in steel origin tracing. The proposal still requires approval from EU member states and the European Parliament, but Sefcovic noted that it aligns closely with the U.S. approach to protecting its domestic steel industry.

EU Urges U.S. to Remove Tariffs on Steel Containing Products

At a press conference following the EU Trade Ministers’ Meeting in Denmark, Sefcovic emphasized:

“Once both sides are protecting their markets in a similar way, it’s time to discuss steel derivatives — we should no longer be calculating how much steel is in a refrigerator or a dishwasher.”

According to Reuters, Sefcovic has formally submitted this proposal in a letter to his U.S. counterparts.

Currently, U.S. tariffs are not limited to raw steel and aluminum, but also apply to a wide range of derivative products made from these metals. In August 2025, the U.S. expanded its tariff list by adding 407 product categories, imposing a 50% tariff on the steel and aluminum content and a 15% universal rate on non-metal components imported from the EU.

The affected categories include wind turbines, bulldozers, railcars, motorcycles, automotive exhaust systems, refrigerators, freezers, and dryers.

Source: Reuters – EU presses US to drop tariffs on metals content

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