The reaction of interested parties in the European steel sector to the extension to the initial exclusion period of Section 232 tariffs has been pretty much as expected, Kallanish notes. Short-term relief still continues to be overshadowed by longer-term uncertainty. The US has extended the exemption period for the EU for another 31 days until 1 June.

“The US’ decision is welcome, if temporary”, said Axel Eggert, director general of the European Steel Association (Eurofer) in a statement. “The EU will now be exempted for another 30 days, to give time for further discussion”. The association does not support the adoption of counter-measures by the EU however. “… in our view, the EU must not bend to unilateral trade measures and should continue to back multilateral solutions under the WTO framework,” Eggert continues.

“If the US Section 232 measure has to remain in place, the EU should – at a minimum – be permanently excluded from its provisions, the director adds.

UK Steel director Gareth Stace concurs. “A further extension to the EU exemption gives us a little more breathing room to continue discussions and find a way through the current impasse to reach a permanent agreement that works for all parties... However, this extension comes with a health-warning. 30 days does not give us much time and all signs point towards a US insistence on the restriction of steel exports by its allies. Such an outcome would be viewed in a dim light by many here; indeed, for some it could have a greater impact than tariffs alone,” Stace warns.

UK member of parliament Stephen Kinnock, a local champion for the UK steel sector, is less diplomatic. “The reality is that Trump knows that his scatter-gun tariffs are utterly self-defeating. When George W Bush tried something similar back in 2001 it led to the loss of over 200,000 American jobs, due to the knock-on effect through the steel supply chain. It took Bush a year to perform a screeching U-turn. Let’s hope that Trump will now bend to the inevitable on 1 June,” he says in a statement sent to Kallanish.