EU ready to continue working towards trade agreement with US, metals uncertainty persists

The EU has responded to US President Donald Trump's announcement that the US will impose 30% tariffs on all imports from the EU from Aug. 1, with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen saying the bloc remained ready to continue working towards an agreement by that date.

The 30% tariffs were announced by US President Donald Trump in letters sent to the presidents of Mexico and the EU, which he posted on Truth Social July 12.

In a July 12 statement, von der Leyen said the EC took note of the letter sent by Trump outlining a revised tariff rate and a new timeline.

"Imposing 30% tariffs on EU exports would disrupt essential transatlantic supply chains, to the detriment of businesses, consumers, and patients on both sides of the Atlantic," she said.

"Few economies in the world match the EU's level of openness and adherence to fair trading practices. The EU has consistently prioritized a negotiated solution with the US, reflecting our commitment to dialogue, stability, and a constructive transatlantic partnership," von der Leyen added.

She said that, while the EU remained ready to continue working toward an agreement by Aug. 1, it would also take all necessary steps to safeguard EU interests, including the adoption of proportionate countermeasures if required.

"Meanwhile, we continue to deepen our global partnerships, firmly anchored in the principles of rules-based international trade," von der Leyen said.

She again announced July 13 that the EU would prolong the suspension of this retaliation against the US until early August.

Metal tariffs

There are already 50% tariffs on steel and aluminum, although the question is whether these will be lowered to the 30% level, while other metals now face tariffs too.

European steel association Eurofer responded to Platts' request for comment by referring to its July 11 statement, in which it called for decisive and timely action from the EU in response to the US steel tariffs and the growing burden of untenable energy prices on the industry.

It said any potential trade deal must preserve 3.8 million mt of EU steel exports to the US, and also stop deflected trade flows redirected from the US to the EU.

European Aluminium had not responded to the request for comment by the time of publication.

However, European nonferrous metals association Eurometaux sent a July 9 letter to the EC, calling on it to find a mutually beneficial agreement with the US ahead of Aug. 1, removing all unnecessary trade barriers and avoiding the imposition of additional retaliatory measures.

"The EU and the US have the world's largest bilateral trade relationship, built on free, fair and rules-based trade," Eurometaux Director General James Watson said, adding that the EU-US nonferrous metals supply chains were, in particular, interconnected, and any trade barriers would negatively disrupt the EU metal industry.

"The EU nonferrous metals industry is critical for Europe's green and digital transition, as well as for its defense ambition, since these policy goals all require higher volumes of metals and minerals," he said.

"The imposition of the US so-called 'reciprocal tariffs' and the increase of the Section 232 tariff on US steel and aluminum imports to 50% affect both directly and indirectly the EU market and put at risk different segments of the EU nonferrous metals supply chain," he added.

Watson also noted that EU rebalancing measures, as currently drafted, would "inflict irreparable damage to crucial value chains of the nonferrous metals industry."

He said the EU countermeasures would, in particular, hit many vital raw materials that were strategically important for the EU's industries and could not be fully substituted by other suppliers, such as copper, tin, and precious metals.

"Moreover, the proposed import tariffs on US electronic and battery waste products can severely weaken the EU recycling of nonferrous metals and go against the policy objectives of the circular economy," Watson said, adding that the US was still one of the few countries from which these materials could be imported with relative ease, even under the new regulatory framework.

"We therefore call on the EC to reconsider these lists, taking into account our industry's comments to avoid further economic harm and dependencies being created in the EU. We believe that the EU countermeasures must be designed based on their potential to provide relief to sector-specific vulnerabilities, including with regard to critical and strategic raw materials to preserve the objectives of the Critical Raw Materials Act," he said.

Exclusions

Eurometaux strongly urged the EC to exclude copper ores and concentrates, precious metals, aluminum scrap and waste, supported catalysts with precious metal, silver oxide cells and batteries, and electrical and electronic waste and scrap from the lists of potential import tariffs in response to the US tariffs.

Watson said, while aluminum waste and scrap must be removed from the list of import tariffs, Eurometaux supported the introduction of these products on the possible list of EU export restrictions to reduce scrap leakage out of Europe.

"It is essential that the EU-US strategic alliance is preserved and further strengthened at a time of economic hardship that requires intense cooperation between the two partners," he said, calling for the EU to bolster its industrial competitiveness, with particular attention to the nonferrous metals industry, which was already under pressure from high energy costs and global overcapacity.

"An effective and balanced solution that normalizes the EU-US trade relations and addresses the real root causes of the problem -- including Chinese overcapacities -- is imperative to advance more effective global trade rules that can reduce growing unilateral actions and unfair practices affecting our multilateral rules-based trading system," he said.