Europe Needs Nerves of Steel Against Trade Coercion

Does the future of European steel lie in the US state of Alabama? That’s where Luxembourg-based ArcelorMittal SA is pouring $1.2 billion into a new plant to meet auto-sector demand, even as it cuts jobs and facilities back home amid Europe’s “existential” crisis of soaring energy costs and cheap Asian imports. Arcelor has warned all of its European plants are at risk of closure; German rival Thyssenkrupp AG’s steel unit plans to cut 40% of its workforce in the coming years.

It’s a trend that President Donald Trump no doubt hopes to accelerate as he prepares to whack 25% tariffs on steel and aluminum imports this month — along with a muddled warning of similar tariffs on “cars and all other things” bought from the European Union, an organization he reckons was set up to “screw” the US. (Ironically, European integration began with the free movement of steel and coal, with full US support.) In a worst-case scenario, the levies could cost the European steel sector another 12,000 jobs and force automakers to shift production to the US, according to Bloomberg Intelligence analysts.