1 December 2025 – These days, everyone seems eager to be the first to receive a “leak” from one of the political bodies of the European Union – including the supposed leak of a draft report on the planned EU steel tariffs. Nationalisation: France wants to take over a major steel producer – and in doing so reveals how European steelmakers mislead the public.
- As Long as It's a Leak: Draft Report on Steel Tariffs
- Nationalisation: France wants to take over a steel producer
- Justification reads in many respects like a counterproposal to the steel tariffs
- ArcelorMittal paid out significant dividends to shareholders in 2022 and 2023
- First, the proposal to introduce new tariffs was largely driven by France
- Second, steelmaker had already lobbied intensively for the introduction of new tariffs
- Third, France and the EU rely on data and claims largely put forward by steel lobby groups
- Fourth, the company is not willing to invest in the EU in the coming years
- Fifth, there is evidence that the steel producer is doing significantly better than claimed
- Is the EU about to make a huge mistake with tariffs?
As Long as It’s a Leak: Draft Report on Steel Tariffs
When it comes to steel and CBAM, one gets the impression that supposed leaks from the European Union are everywhere. As if a Brussels official were standing at their office window dumping crates of “leaked” documents over the city. But not everything is a “leak” that certain trade media attempt to present as secretly passed-on material.
A leak that isn’t a leak
For example, the price reporting agency Fastmarkets categorised a draft report by the responsible MEP Karin Karlsbro, Renew, on the planned steel tariffs and import quotas as a supposed leak last Friday. A document that must be published regularly and mandatorily – and which had already been available to us since 24 November 2025.
In addition, Fastmarkets portrayed the draft report of a single MEP as if the entire Parliament were already prepared to accept the quotas and tariffs on steel with only minimal changes. Only in a side note did the article mention that the text has not yet been adopted and could still be amended.
It is alarming how important information is now being handled by various market participants. Whether it is the EU steel producers themselves, who are favoured by the Commission and supplied with vital information that is withheld from the public – and who, for example, try to influence contract negotiations in this way. Or the trade media, which now classify every document that sees the light of day as a “leak” to increase click rates without investing even a spark of research in advance.
Nationalisation: France wants to take over a steel producer
Last week, the National Assembly in France agreed to nationalise the French part of the world’s largest steel producer outside China, ArcelorMittal. Although this decision is not yet legally binding and further hurdles still need to be overcome in France, the vote at least signalled broad support within the Parliament.
Justification reads in many respects like a counterproposal to the steel tariffs
The justification for why ArcelorMittal should be nationalised reads in many respects like a counterproposal to the Commission’s plans regarding the introduction of tariffs and import quotas on steel. ArcelorMittal is accused, among other things, of having put pressure on the French state with ever-new demands in order to indefinitely delay its investment decisions for production and decarbonisation in France.
ArcelorMittal paid out significant dividends to shareholders in 2022 and 2023
ArcelorMittal is also accused of having paid out significant dividends to shareholders in 2022 and 2023 (more than 700 million euros) and, through an aggressive tax optimisation strategy, having reduced the company’s actual profits to such an extent that it has not had to pay corporate tax in France for five years.
According to an analysis by the National Assembly, the parent company distributed 12.5 billion dollars to its shareholders over the last five years: 1.5 billion dollars in dividends and 11 billion dollars in share buybacks.
And the allegations do not end there. The report reveals considerable issues related to the EU’s planned steel tariffs.
First, the proposal to introduce new tariffs was largely driven by France
First, the proposal to introduce new tariffs was largely driven by France and drafted and presented by the French Executive Vice-President for Prosperity and Industrial Strategy of the European Commission, Stéphane Séjourné – a Commissioner who is said to have very close ties to the French government. The fact that France’s demands were adopted by him almost 1:1 seems to support this view.
Second, steelmaker had already lobbied intensively for the introduction of new tariffs
Second, ArcelorMittal had already lobbied intensively for the introduction of new tariffs and quotas even before the proposal became public on 7 October 2025, and also afterwards. With crude steel production of more than 31 million tonnes, the ArcelorMittal Group is the largest steel producer in the EU and therefore likely exerted considerable influence at the level of steel associations.
Third, France and the EU rely on data and claims largely put forward by steel lobby groups
Third, France and the Commission rely on data and claims largely put forward by European steel lobby groups such as EUROFER. These claims are meant to justify the introduction of the new steel safeguard measures. Even though many of them – such as the assertion that the European market is being flooded with Chinese steel – have turned out to be false. The largest shares of steel imports into Europe come from Turkey, India, and Russia.
Fourth, the company is not willing to invest in the EU in the coming years
Fourth, the accusations brought forward in France against the steel producer indicate an assumption that the company is not willing to invest in the EU in the coming years and will continue to cut jobs – regardless of whether tariffs and quotas are introduced, whether CBAM is implemented, or whether subsidies are paid.
Fifth, there is evidence that the steel producer is doing significantly better than claimed
Fifth, the National Assembly has provided evidence that the steel producer is doing significantly better than the European Commission, the EU Member State France, and other parties would have the public believe.
Is the EU about to make a huge mistake with tariffs?
Based on these points – which could be expanded significantly – the legitimate question arises whether the European Union, under pressure from a single steel producer together with the French government, is about to make a major error in tariff policy.
Given the facts, the motivation and underlying data behind the tariff plans of the French Commissioner Stéphane Séjourné and his colleague Maroš Šefčovič, European Commissioner for Trade, must urgently be scrutinised by Parliament and the Member States.
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