Bankinter | US President D. Trump announced that he will raise tariffs on all steel and aluminium imports from all countries from 25% to 50% as of Wednesday 4 June. The 25% tariff was set on 12 March.
Analysis team’s view: This increase comes days after a US International Trade Tribunal called into question reciprocal tariffs, but not sectoral tariffs. This new sectoral tariff increase complicates ongoing negotiations with many countries, including the EU, which has paused its response tariffs to facilitate the 90-day negotiating process, which runs until early July. The EU has commented that “if a mutually acceptable solution is not reached” the paused and additional measures would come into force on 14 July, “or earlier if circumstances require”.
The main steel imports to the US come from Canada and Mexico, followed by Brazil; while aluminium imports come mainly from Canada, the United Arab Emirates and Mexico. In the absence of further changes or countermeasures, for European companies, it would be negative for ARCELORMITTAL (Neutral, P. Obj: €27.0/share) which does not produce steel directly in the US where it has downstream plants; positive for ACERINOX (Buy, P. Obj: €11.7/) which produces stainless steel (NAS) in the US, where it is one of the main producers and of high performance alloys (through the recently acquired, at the end of 2024, Haynes International).
